Thunder and Ice
by Shadow Snivy
Summary: In the puzzling forest of Sugarcane, an outgoing jolteon and a shy glaceon lived, not to mention several of their friends. When Thunder moves from his homeforest to Sugarcane, he had no idea what problems was going to face him. Shard had no clue what would happen when she ran into this charming jolteon as well. However a certain wicked Pokemon may come and suddenly ruin everything.
1. Journey to Sugarcane

**Thunder: Do we really have to start at this part of the story Shadow?**

**Me: Yes, it gives the story a very humorous start.**

**Thunder: But the way my mom sasses at me like that…**

**Me: I don't care what you think Thunder; I'm the one telling the story, not you. You are just here to watch me tell the story.**

**Thunder: *moans***

**Shard: Hey, don't forget about me!**

**Thunder: Shadow Snivy doesn't own Pokémon.**

**Shard: Stop excluding me out of the disclaimer guys…**

**Thunder: *Silences Shard with a kiss on the cheek, and she fell on the floor in a fainted status***

**Me: This chapter won't have any romance, but it will come on soon.**

**Thunder: Just get on with the story before Shard wakes up, I want to save the romance for later.**

**Me: Fine… enjoy the story!**

**Thunder's POV**

"Now don't forget your berries, I don't want to pick up rotten berries out of your old bedroom Mister!" Mum yelled through her tree bark home. She didn't have to yell up like that, but hey, what do you expect when your mom is a fiery flareon? If only Dad wasn't such a wimp, then maybe he can act like a manly Pokémon once in a while and talk back to her.

"I won't!" I yelled back through the fallen log, annoyed. Making sure that she wouldn't yap at me again, I went over to the pile of collective berries by my leaf bed, and placed it in a giant leaf, along with my other stuff needed for this move. I couldn't stop the adrenaline from rushing through my veins, finally, I was moving out of my parents' house into Sugarcane Forest. At 16 years old, they finally could let me go into my own world. I should've leaved years ago. I could feel my fur fill with strong volts of electricity uncontrollably under all this excitement. Living in a huge giant log was **no** way for four Pokémon to live. After all this smothering, finally, finally…

I couldn't finish my thought as in overpowering excitement, I ran in circles over and over releasing watts of electricity. When all that surplus power was gone, I was finally able to settle down and pick out everything I needed. When all was laid out on the huge, light green leaf, I carried end by end together till it kind of looked like a folded up napkin. Searching for the wooden bowl of maple sap, I stuffed my yellow paw into the wooden bowl, caking my paw in the famous Maplewood sap. I used the sap and covered up at where all the corners of the leaf met. My paw ended up still stained in some leftover sap after the bag was sealed tightly. I licked it with my tongue, tasting a sweet, tender taste of maple, feeling as if I was already living the good life. Then before I pawed out the carved-out doorway, I looked at the bright red scarf that lay carelessly by my ruffled leaf bed, and with a majestic maneuver, I grabbed it and used my fangs to toss it into the air, only for it to go for a short distance before it hit the bark ceiling. It quickly fell on my neck, and then I used my paws to wrap it around tight so it wouldn't slip off.

I frantically grabbed hold of the thick leaf filled with all my important moving stuff in between my fangs, and dashed outside of the log to where they were waiting. I saw the flourishing red fur that shined along my mother's pelt and saw the partly messy ebony pelt of my dad, an Umbreon. Finally I saw my little sister rolling all over the ground on the mossy terrain. Shadows were casted all around from towering trees, and I knew that this was definitely a day of excitement. I couldn't stand one more night in that log, even though it was fairly huge for a regular tree trunk.

"Oh honey look at you, you look so handsome, well besides that static fur that you will never brush," she complimented with an insult as well. I placed the leaf bag down onto the green and orange mossy ground and replied,

"Yeah, I love you too." I stared at Dad and he had a deep grin.

"That's my boy finally moving out!" he hollered through the empty forest, hearing a sort of echo afterwards. He dashed up to me and with his midnight paw, and ruffled up my yellow fur in delight, making no difference in my usual punk rock look. He backed away and I explained,

"Yes, I will miss you too, but I couldn't wait to get out of that log, you know how hard it is to sleep at night?" He just gave a faint chuckle in response.

"And I have some news my boy," Dad blurted out, making all of us stare at him, making me sure that the rest of the family knew nothing about what he was going to say.

"I had found the perfect burrow around the edge of Maplewood. It is huge, and now we won't have to live in this old log like a flock of pidgey, and be one step closer to a real den." Surprised at this news, I couldn't believe he was able to get one. One day we had this huge den, but then I was wandering around and was near simisear territory, and three simisear drove us away in anger after they chased me back to the den. They claimed it their own territory, and we were stuck living in the log ever since. We would have gotten another den or burrow, but even though this forest was fairly small, this forest was known as a vacation spot, so many of the caves and burrows here were reserved for others, and we were stuck in that log that I wouldn't even call home. Luckily we were able to find a den outside of this forest for me to live in, but it was as close as they could get it to this place.

The faces of my mom and Aqua, my sister, were only showing the emotion of shock. They didn't seem sad to be leaving the log like most Pokémon is to their old homes, but they screamed in glee. Heck, who wouldn't react like that? I joined with them with a few cheers, but stopped. I looked off toward the east, and then a sudden adrenaline came to me. A whole new world for me was out there, and I just couldn't wait. I started to dart off to the eastern exit of the forest with the small bag of stuff again between my jaws.

I stopped with a sudden feel of guilt, and wondered why, stopping in my tracks. Peering back, I saw only faces of distress and sorrow, despite they now don't live in that stinky log. I knew they wanted me to go back, but also wanted me to leave and live my own life. I dropped the bag of stuff once again, and with a silent gesture, I waved, and with a noticeable smile, I saw their expressions of sadness and regret lift, and I could tell that they also knew that this was for the better. My jaws clenched on to the goody bag, and I trotted toward my next destination, knowing that it would be filled with adventure and excitement.

I kept going at an easy pace with that certain expression that makes strangers tell that you were overjoyed. After about a mile, I could tell that this walk was getting stale. My heart beat had increased and I had to take in deep breaths of the surrounding oxygen. Then some reason the trees started to become fewer and fewer. I started to look around at the trees, seeing that the trees completely stopped, but then at that very second, one of my paws came down and landed on nothing. Alarmed, I sprang back surprised to see a gorge right ahead of me. If I wasn't quick enough, I would've plummeted about twenty meters down into the aggressive stream below. The gap didn't end in the distance, seeing that it was spreading off towards the left and right, the ends out of sight.

As my mom had told me, this must have been the Giant Gorge; a gorge that surrounded the whole eastern area of Maplewood and is the sign of exiting these woods. The gorge was told to have an undetermined length but had a width of around ten yards. Mum said that it was very difficult to jump over. She also said that there were two bridges in order to cross over, one around the south end and another around the north end. I could tell that I was approximately around the center, so either way would do justice. The only problem was that if I continued from this time of the day, a while pass the middle of the day, it would probably be dusk once I made it to a bridge. I wanted to at least get to the entrance of Sugarcane before I started to rest. Was there a chance that I could jump the gorge?

All that came to mind about jumping the river was that it was _a challenging_ jump. It was severely difficult, but not fully impossible. I had a great agility and flexibility, so maybe I could save the time and just pounce over. I stared down at the raging water down below to see what chances I had of living if I fell down. There were massive waves crashing through the river route, and I felt a cool breeze that was created from the water, and with a furious wind. The wind was strong enough to ruffle my scarf that hung around my prickly neck. I usually never felt fear, and this was no exception.

I knew that if I just kept my mind to it, I could jump those ten yards and soon arrive at Salty Gulf; the last obstacle that was between me and Sugarcane. With a bold thought in mind, I dashed about five or six yards back, getting ready to jump. I crouched as I had my eyes focused on the other side, thinking the same thought over and over.

_I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…_

I had my wits prepared, and I knew with one little sign of flinching or retreat would mess it all up, and soon I would be drowned by the ferocious waves. I needed to run as fast as I could or else I will just be a small distance short from life. I narrowed my eyes, and with a small twitch of my ear, I knew that the wind was blowing east, giving me the advantage as I would jump with the wind pushing at my back. In an instant, my paws dashed and showed a new shade of blurriness, and I could see the edge approach at an alarming rate. The other side was getting nearer and when I could feel the crumbling edge of the earth, my yellow hind paws acted like coils and launched me into the air.

I felt as if I was an arrow just shot out of a bow, a wrecking ball thrown out of a catapult, or a rocket blasting through the atmosphere. For a second, I felt as if the whole world had been put into slow-motion, and I felt free. I could feel the wind passing through my matted fur, my body traveling with the wind as if we were in sync, and saw the distance I had overcome. I kept climbing higher through the air and above the drastic drop, and haven't started to lose altitude till I was more than halfway there. Everything then came back to reality, and as my elevation started to decrease, I made a rough landing onto the grass, now on the other side. I fell to my paws as the speed was too much to control and I just fell sideways making me drop the leaf bag once I slammed into the ground.

I stood up, and shook my entire body like a dog after it takes a bath. That was so epic, extreme, awesome, I felt like I was on major overload of energy drinks as sparks flew through the air, unable to stay in my messy fur. Crackling sounds rang out from my intense electricity. Suddenly, I could hear faint, weak claps from the other side of the river, barely audible over the crackling sounds. Curiosity stopped my volts from blasting through the humid air, and I spotted a baby rattata using its little mouse paws to make a clapping noise. The sight of that baby mouse just made my stomach growl, but I wasn't just going to jump back over to eat the critter, and plus I had made it strict with myself to only eat fish species Pokémon in any acts of being carnivorous. I looked at the adorable rodent, and I smiled, and then I kind of waved at it. The rattata chuckled, than ran back into the forest, unaware that it was around a Pokémon that could easily just rip it into shreds.

I forgot about the rattata and thought about that jump. That was so hardcore! I did the nearly impossible; good thing I evolved into a jolteon. I couldn't help but smile at the challenging task I had just completed. I could feel the shocking bolts of electricity emit from my fur once more, and I ran off in the east after I picked up my leaf bag of stuff, finally out of Maplewood for the first time. Just to make sure my red scarf still was wrapped around my neck, I stared at my fuzzy scruff, and the auburn scarf was sustained around my neck, filled with static electricity.

This place I walked through was some woods called Coconut Pines. It's named that because most of the woods were by this beach, and only small parts of the place had pine trees. I was in the pine tree area at the moment. The blades of grass were long, as tall as wheat, so in a way, it was like passing through a wheat field. I got frustrated from time to time in the place, clawing and shredding nearby grass. The grass blocked my sight several times, making it hard to tell if I was going the right direction at some times. It was annoying.

Finally the tall grass started to shorten, and I could actually see where I was going after half an hour of being lost in that grass. My fur was entangled with grass and was even more matted up than before. The pine started to transform into bright palm that were growing fuzzy coconuts. The ground was still grassy, but sooner or later we would end up at some water and sand…soon.

Only about a minute later of walking at my normal, easy and steady pace, I could feel altering of terrain under my sensitive paws. The soft grass my sore feet had walked upon had shifted into a sandy form. The gritty sand was sizzling, and tickled my yellow toes as I crept on top. I managed out a small giggle for a second, but just like a snap of the fingers, I got used to the new terrain. Crustacean creatures lied upon the beach in a random fashion and palm trees disappeared from eyesight.

I saw it seconds later at the edge of the sand; Salty Gulf. Where land had met sea, the legend of Kyogre and Groudon came to mind, remembering the myth I was told when I was just an eevee. I wonder what kind of legends were spread around Sugarcane forest, maybe ones I already heard or maybe ones that are completely new to me. Sugarcane forest, I just couldn't wait. The sun was starting to fall out of the sky, and now the only thing separating me and that forest was this gulf.

How would I get across? If I went around, that will take forever. I had to somehow cut right through this big body of water. I didn't see any boats along the shore, it's not like I could swim all the way across, and this journey seemed to be impossible again.

Maybe a group of starmie or staryu could be around the shore. I dashed up to the low tide and starred at the waves. It was hard to see, so I started too bound through the waves to a deeper point to see if they were just a bit farther out. I ducked my head underwater, and my vision turned blurry… and burned.

I quickly yanked my head out of the water, feeling like my eyes were hot coals burning in a fire. The salt, I didn't expect it to burn like garlic powder. I needed to flush my eyes out, but with this water, that would just worsen the situation. I endured the pain, even though it felt like they were engulfed in flames.

Uncontrollably, I used my paw and tried to wipe it out of my eyes. It felt good as my paw continuously rubbed my eyelids and got some of the nasty spice out, but some just was too deep to rub out, but at least the pain was durable so I could think a minute without the pain tugging at my shoulders. I quickly took off my drenched scarf with my jaws and dropped it carelessly onto the gritty sand, letting the water slowly drain out so I could wrap it back around again later.

I looked back at the water and saw just small volts of my power course through the water, and seconds later, there was no trace of the electrical substance. Maybe if I used a slick move, I could run around the whole gulf, or I could build a raft and sail across.

How would I make a raft? It's not like this is a jungle and secure vines were around to tie the logs together. The wood around here was worthless and with my stubby paws, a raft would be impossible to make. The only thing that came to mind was running around the gulf. If I used quick attack numerous amount of times, it will slice the time in half, and maybe I could make it around before I could see the twinkling stars layered out in the sky.

I decided my next course of action, and knew I had to run around, even though it seemed like it would take forever. I crouched as the salty fragrance of the ocean flowed through the atmosphere. My quick attack will surely help me get there as fast as possible. Hopefully I can get there before the sun sinks out of the sky…

I quickly crouched in position, about to run at a supersonic speed with the velvet scarf back around my neck. Sand sat motionless in between my stubby toes as I narrowed my eyes the same way I had when I was back at the gorge. The distance looked like an endless route of sand, as if I kept going, it will never come to a halt. I didn't care about the illusions and tricks my eyes pulled on me, there always is an ending somewhere. Then like springs, I seemed to fling into the sky with a strong amount of power embraced from my ankles. A dust cloud disguised me for less than a second and I was a few feet in the air, about to land in a second and run at that outstanding speed. I land with a soft landing two yards ahead of my original position in that grimy sand, and then my feet made a rapid movement as I rushed forward, a new form of blurriness to me as my feet carried me toward the north-western direction.

As I ran at the magnificent speed, a huge trail of sandy clouds shot up from behind me. I zoomed out of that old spot and the trail continued to follow me. Each second when I was in one spot, I was farther ahead, and where my paws had just pounded upon was a small dust cloud. My paws not aching a bit, I increased my speed, conquering even more distance per Nano second. An unbelievable speed was how I would put it, and I kept dashing forward, knowing that I was creating mounds of sand along where my paws had just traveled across. I was just barely wincing at the pain from the salt in my eyes as I continued to dash on.

It had only been about a few minutes later as my speed had continuously increased, but my bones in my legs started to grow fragile. I nearly fell sideways as I attempted to stay at my current speed, but it was too pressuring, and I was forced to either slow down or face a major injury that would seriously slow down the trip. I tried to slow down, but the control at this speed was out of my paws. I applied immediate brakes with all four of my sore paws, and came to a slow halt. Then I skidded and fell lopsided in the sand, this huge smog of sand thrown into the air, making it hard to control my breathing as I made the terrible landing, being forced to let go of the leaf bag that hanged in my mouth again.

I rested in the sand for a minute or two, just lying in the heat of the sand. It seemed to comfort me; like I was a baby eevee again being cradled in some kind of baby bed, but it just seemed to calm me down. The dust cloud created from my crash had quickly subsided, making breathing easy once more. During that minute, I could _feel _the pain in my muscles, it felt as if they were burning a small bit, but I also felt like I couldn't get back up. I just wanted to stay there, resting. I closed my eyes, enjoying the comfort, when the whole reason I was on this trip snapped to me. I needed to get to Sugarcane, and who knows what will happen when it's dark. Despite the anchoring pain grasping my legs, I slowly got back up on my paws.

_Great job Thunder, you just cost yourself a lot of time with that, _I scolded myself. I now couldn't run or else the pain could become worse and this pain in my legs could become more serious. I had to walk, if I liked it or not. I then grabbed my stuff that I dropped for the second time on this trip, and paw by paw, step by step, I walked through the burning sand that surprisingly started to feel a bit cold. In that case, it meant it was getting dark, and fast. Looking up, I saw it was nearly the end of sunset. I quickened my pace to a small jog, pain nipping at my legs but not majorly. My paws itched, wanting to leave dust in my wake, but I couldn't, unless I wanted to be stuck in my den for a week, sick as a poochyena.

A long period of time had passed. My sight was limited with lack of lighting in the dark atmosphere. My fur was ruffled up and layered in gritty sand, muscles aching and paws rough. The only light that guided me through the endless route of sand was the stars hanging above with a sliver of a moon sustained in the blackness of night. My ears were lowered in exhaustion and electricity lacking, my pine needle fur starting to look lifeless. I never thought that a journey like this could be so breathe taking… literally. I struggled to keep my eyes open, the whites of my eyes now a shade of light red. I swore if I took one more step I would collapse into the sand and…

As my ears pricked up, my eyes wide in unbelief and joy, I glared at the outskirts of my limited vision and my jaw gaped. My current thoughts had disappeared as I took in the new surroundings. I saw trees, sweet pine trees! I could notice the border of the place when the sand transformed into lively grass. It had to be with no doubt Sugarcane Forest! I made it without a bruise… well; I made it without a wound at least.

I started to gallop toward Sugarcane, but pain nipped my legs once again, and I moaned in depression and started to slowly walk toward it, despite my excitement. Only a minute or two later was when I arrived at the entrance. It was strange to look into a forest blooming with life but to look over my shoulder to notice a lifeless route of sand wrapped around the shore of the gulf. I stared on into the forest, foliage and greenery everywhere. I saw some sap leaking from a pine tree, and boy was I starved. I could have just opened the leaf bag I have been carrying for the whole time, but then it would be such a chore dragging it to my den. I wiped my paw against the sap but noticed something was… odd. Unlike the sap back in Maplewood, this one wasn't a golden glossy amber color, but a dull dark orange. This sap also seemed to be way stickier than back in Maplewood. I took my chances and licked my paw, and I tasted an unusual bitter, sour, terrible taste.

I felt like hurling right there and then, but instead I tried to cough it up, and luckily I was able to get that horrible orange glop out of my mouth. I quickly got the rest of the stuff off my paw by wiping it on the grass, and it took some time. The horrible taste lingered in my mouth, making me feel like the pain from the salt water in my eyes was transferred to my tongue. If I could define what this… weird sap was like in one word, I would choose 'bitter' or 'revolting' or even 'inedible'. This wasn't the kind of sap like back in Maplewood, it was something else, and no way was I going to try it again. Ignoring the taste, I continued to walk along the smooth blades of grass, my rough pads rapidly starting to feel better with each paw step.

A faint scent floated in the air, it was familiar… but how could it be? I couldn't identify it, but I knew I smelt it before. I didn't know when, how, or what it was, but the scent was something I was sure that I smelt a while ago. It had a fragrant ring to it, and suddenly I knew just what it was. It was sap, not the gross sap in this forest, but it was the delicious golden amber sap I grew up with. Maplewood sap was the smell, like something... sweet. Then I realized what it was, Maplewood sap! I didn't know how I couldn't recognize it before; I grew up with it for all my life! This only meant either someone had somehow gotten a whole jar of Maplewood sap, or this was the smell from a Pokémon in Maplewood like… my dad! This must have been when he entered and exited Sugarcane when he was searching for a den, and plus, he always reeks of Maplewood sap; it's like his signature fragrance. If it was someone else from Maplewood, they would have to be covered in the sap. I laughed out loud when I thought of that.

There was a scent trail here, and it seemed to lead deeper into the forest, which meant if I followed it, I would end up at the den sooner or later! I broke out in a dash, but about seconds after I was face down in the grass. I hated not being able to run, but I just needed a good night of sleep, and I bet I'll be as healthy as before. I walked along the scent trail, the sap comforting me and reminding me of home. Thoughts raced through my head. Were they all at the new burrow yet? Were they filled with joy or covered in depression? Were they alright? Were they still packing? So many questions with no answers zoomed around in my thoughts. I picked up the pace, just wanting to get to that den as soon as possible.

In a steady jog that I was able to withstand, I looked around at my surroundings. It was quite tranquil and very quiet… maybe a bit too quiet, but how would I know, this was probably just a typical night. Back at Maplewood, there was always a sound to be heard, either the rustling of leaves in the wind, or the squawk of a bird Pokémon in the distance. I decided to forget about Maplewood, knowing that I would soon be homesick if every thought had a reference the place.

Suddenly, I felt a sudden pain in my flank, being sent rolling across the grass covered ground. My leg muscles burned from the pain, and I felt as if I now had a new bruise that wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. What was that? Was I being attacked?

I tried to get back up on my paws, but then I saw a flash of movement and soon I was pushed back down. Then quickly something sharp and rough wrapped around my neck and waist, and I froze. It clenched tightly around my throat, making it a struggle to breathe. I stared up in surprise and fear when I saw a huge, predatory bird Pokémon. It was pinning me down with one talon around my chest and one wrapped tightly against my neck. This Pokémon had me in a death grip with me pinned on my back. One look at these and you can tell that these were deadly weapons and that would keep Pokémon away from it by a longshot. A devious glare shined from the bird's eyes, dark feathers blending in with the darkness of night. It leaned its head closer so that we were muzzle to beak, and then it squawked loud, making me feel as if I couldn't move even if I tried.

"Talk!" it shouted, making my fur stand on end. I managed to make out a few words that were barely audible.

"A-About w-wha-a-at…?"

"WHO are you?!" it screamed louder than before, telling me that it wasn't patient.

"T-Thund-d-der... the j-jolt-t-teon…" I stammered, it barely more than a whisper.

"WHY are you invading Sugarcane forest, are you some kind of spy!? ARE you planning to attack Sugarcane!? SAY ALL THAT YOU KNOW!" I couldn't talk, the way he roared out his words made my blood freeze. He thought I was some kind of intruder, and if he continued to think that, my head would be rolling across the grass in mere seconds.

"I-I-I'm not I-I-in-" The bird quickly cut me off.

"STOP stammering! Answer now or you will wish you were never born!" I was intimidated without a doubt, so I took a huge breathe and explained as fast as I could,

"I'm not intruding I'm just trying to get to my new den that I got in this forest since I'm now considered old enough to have my own place from my parents perspective and I just got here and I am really worn out and bruised and tired as well so I really need to get there because I need to rest and I'm following my dad's scent trail when he was searching for the den and please don't kill me." I think I gave out too much information, and made me sound like a scared little cub. Luckily, his grip loosened and he let go of me, but I stayed in my position, wondering if it will let me get back up.

"Get up," he ordered, and I obediently got back on my paws.

"Sorry for the misunderstanding. Lately these mischievous looking Pokémon have been trampling around the forest. One was a flareon, one was an umbreon, and one was an eevee kit. They all seemed to wander around lost and came here several times. It was like they were looking for something." I almost laughed, but kept it in, not wanting to offend this Pokémon in any way.

"Hey, those Pokémon aren't mischievous in the slightest, I betcha a paw and a tail that those Pokémon were my family!" Soon we broke out into small talk about them, and I told him about how they were just looking for a den for me to stay at. Most of the time I just talked and he just asked a question every now and then, like he wasn't in the mood for a talk, but then a question caught me off guard.

"Well why you didn't all just all just move into that den together?" he asked.

I had to think it over for a minute before I answered. "I guess they don't want to leave Maplewood, or they want my baby sister to grow up in Maplewood as I had, or they think that the trip would be too hard for my sister. Or maybe my parents just thought it would be better if they stayed in Maplewood. I don't really know the real answer, but these are my best guesses." The rest of the chat went smooth. No challenging questions came up and it was pretty fun. It also ends up that this Pokémon had been given a job to search throughout the forest at night just in case the 'intruders' were spies or if they started sneaking in at night, trying to wreak havoc on the forest of something. The way he described it actually made it seem like they were intruders. I mean, they wander around, avoiding other Pokémon the whole time, not staying with anyone at a den or burrow or something and leave at dusk, it does sound pretty suspicious the way he put it.

He then invited me to meet me back at the entrance tomorrow morning just when the sun started to rise. I replied with a quick nod, and then we started to go our separate ways, but he turned around and quickly said quietly, "By the way, the name is Falcon." He then quickly flew off into the night before another word could've been said.

A while later I was in my den, my new, normal den. It was just like a cave, but it would be too small for my whole family. Maybe that was why we all didn't move here. I was lying down by the entrance, ready to wake up when the sunlight brushes over me. I closed my eyes, exhausted, and then only one thought coursed through my mind before I drifted off into a light slumber.

_Funny and I still don't know what kind of Pokémon he is… what a mysterious guy Falcon is._

**Author's Note: There shall always be an author's note at the end of each chapter, just for a little heads up so-to-speak. So for a quick summary, Thunder went through some challenges along his journey, and met a strange… Pokémon of an unidentified species named Falcon, bet you all wish you knew what he was (just in case you didn't figure it out already). Shard wasn't mentioned in this chapter, but I promise either in the next one or the one after that, so the 2nd or 3rd chapter, they will finally meet. So this is the first chapter in my new story, Thunder and Ice, hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. The Great Sequoias

**Me: Welcome back to the 2nd chapter of Thunder and Ice!**

**Thunder: I came up with the name! :D**

**Shard: Sure you did… *says sarcastically***

**Thunder: You're awake already?**

**Shard: Duh, you only kissed me on the cheek. *Thunder and Shard both laugh***

**Me: Stop bickering you two!**

**Thunder: Bickering? What does that mean?**

**Me: *facepalm***

**Shard: It means to argue, don't you know that?**

**Thunder: Uh… of course I do! What, do you think I'm stupid or something?**

**Shard: *mumbles* Yes. *snickers a bit***

**Thunder: Hey, I heard that!**

**Me: Break it up lovebirds, now back to the story.**

**Shard: Shadow Snivy doesn't own Pokémon!**

**Thunder: Who does own Pokémon…?**

**Thunder's POV**

My eyes felt baggy, and I slowly got up on my paws, my eyes feeling sore. It was just on the brink of dawn, the sun hidden by some tall mountains in the distance. I heard some squawks from a few hoothoot and noctowl still flying around in the night, getting ready to head back to their nests. My muscles stung as I got up, reminding me of the incident back at Salty Gulf. That made me wonder if there could be a beach around here… well no time for exploring right now, I probably couldn't even run yet and I needed to get back to the entrance of Sugarcane to meet Falcon. I would find out what Pokémon he was.

I stretched out my muscles, a little pain still tugging at my legs, but way less than yesterday. Maybe I could still run; I just couldn't break out into a full-out sprint like I did yesterday. That's what got me into this mess in the first place. I took a few steps outside the dim cave, my eyes adjusting to the dim light.

I needed to fix this cave up soon: make a bed, collect some food, maybe make a fire pit in the middle for some lighting, soon it'll be a pretty sweet pad.

I slowly broke into a jog, seeing if I felt any pain whatsoever. Nothing. I knew that I could still go faster. I made a bit of a slow run, following my scent trail I left yesterday on the way here. Man, I couldn't describe how good it felt to be running again, even though it wasn't the exhilarating rush I get when I'm running at full speed. My paws started to itch, wanting to burn some steel, but I didn't care what I felt, I just couldn't or I might never make it to the entrance before the sun is fully above those mountains.

A few minutes later, I realized how tired I was. My legs started to have that nipping pain again, still sore from first making a mistake at Salty Gulf, and second, traveling all day and most of the night. Which brings me to the fact that I didn't get to the den till the crescent moon was floating in the middle of the vast sky. I could feel my ears lowering, my strength getting weaker. My paw pads felt ragged and worn out sooner than I expected. My eyelids closed continuously, making me almost fall asleep in mid-run. I slowed down for my sake, knowing that I wouldn't be able to keep up at this pace, and as I slowed down, I made out a large yawn. This wasn't going to be easy.

Finally, the sun was almost fully above the mountains, half the sky lit up with light and all signs of stars vanished. The moon looked transparent in the sky. I saw the point where the smooth grass met the rough sand; the border between Sugarcane Forest and Salty Gulf. I didn't know what was odder, the fact that I was going to collapse at any moment, that I came here knowing nothing about what was going to happen, or the fact that Falcon wasn't here yet. Maybe he was sleeping in; he was out all night after all… just like I have been. Suddenly a voice broke out,

"Seriously, _this _is the so-called _radical _guy Falcon found last night, he looks like a beaten up rag doll!" I wouldn't blame who it was; I bet if I looked at my reflection, I would look just like one.

"Hunter! Don't say that, what do you expect, he's probably _really _tired. Falcon did say that he found him in the middle of the night, he nearly slashed his head off, remember!" a different unfamiliar voice whispered, but it was like a quiet scream instead, so I could hear it just fine.

"Well this _radical _guy just had a rough trip and a terrible sleep, so go ahead and come on out," I bellowed. I could hear quiet gasps, as if they actually thought I wouldn't hear them in the least. I faced the direction I thought I heard the voices come from, but ended up I was facing the totally wrong direction. They were right behind me and said 'Um, you're facing the wrong way dude'.

I turned around to see two Pokémon, but both of them weren't Falcon. Where was he? Well I had no time to think questions that will have no answers, so I just stared at the two Pokémon that just scrambled out of the bushes. One was representing a canine, and it looked like a wolf but small, just like a black fur pup. It had fangs sticking out of its mouth and seemed to be on edge for some conversation. The other one looked pretty cool, he looked like he didn't care I was here at all, or that I took any interest. He looked like a giant rat; that would be how I would put it. It reminded me of a pikachu I once saw back in Maplewood, but about twice the size and was orange instead of yellow. His tail looked exactly like a thunder bolt and had yellow cheeks, flowing with electricity. Another electric type, I liked that.

"Hi, really nice to meet you, I guess your Thunder! I'm Fang, and as you can see perfectly clear, I'm a poochyena! This here is my raichu buddy, Hunter! It's so cool to finally meet you, when Falcon came to my den and told me about you last night, I just paced around in my cave all night and I just couldn't sleep since I was so excited!" exclaimed the very rambunctious poochyena.

"Way to show optimism Fang," grumbled Hunter.

"And that leaves me to think your name is Hunter, am I right?" I tried to say coolly.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," he replied, very laidback like. He then started to tap his left-hind paw impatiently. "Oh come on, we finished introductions and Falcon is _still _not here. What's taking it so long?"

That was around the moment when a bird Pokémon failed a landing and made a crash, ending up right in the center of the three of us.

"Found him," I muttered. Now that I had a look at him in daylight, I could see what kind of Pokémon he was. He had feathers all over in different shades of black with some albino feathers thrown in too. I saw those deadly weapons that were called talons, making me want to flinch again at the memory last night. I saw he had a sort of feathered mane above his head, and the tip was a crimson red. His beak was sort of curved, but was dagger-like at the same time. This bird was what I would call a bird of predator. I tried to remember what this Pokémon was again, and it hit me, he was a staraptor. I had only seen one, and that was right before I wandered into simisear territory long ago. It tried to make me it's lunch, but I only got away when it was forced off of simisear territory… when I was face to face with one as a little kit.

I shrugged off the memory. "Sorry," Falcon started. "Overslept, didn't mean to."

"Nice excuse, Silent Falcon," Hunter teased. 'Silent'? Maybe the staraptor I saw last night wasn't the true 'Falcon'.

"So are you gonna introduce us all to Thunder formally Hunter, huh, huh, huh?" Fang pleaded. I didn't see the point in saying their names again, but Hunter started… right after he groaned about it.

"So anyway Thunder, this is Fang, and as you can see, he just is the talkative type. He's very rambunctious, but not the brightest dog in the dog park, if you know what I mean."

"That's me! Wait… did you just call me a dog? What's a dog?" Fang clearly wasn't getting the point that he was called stupid, Facepaw.

"And I'm Hunter, the leader of this… pack; I guess you would call it that. I'm brave and bold, and I swear I will never turn down a fight, no matter how disadvantaged I am or how stupid it may seem." He sure sounded like a force you wouldn't reckon with, but maybe he was just a little too headstrong.

"Then over here, the nicknamed 'Silent Falcon', is… well, Falcon. He is very silent, he only talks when needed. Pretty much never talks if you ask me." Falcon didn't say anything, just scraped the ground with his threatening talons. Guess if Hunter and Fang saw Falcon last night, they would think they had gone nuts. I never actually met anyone like that.

"Wow, you guys seem pretty cool," I admitted, starting to rub the back of my neck a bit.

"You know what, you're all right Thunder; I guess Falcon finding you was just dumb luck." Hunter let out a laugh. We all laughed with him quickly, and the laugh ended as soon as it came.

"Oh Hunter, he should hang out with us a lot, like we do all the time, it would be a blast!" Fang blurted out.

"Your right Fang, he seems cool enough, I guess, you accept Thunder?" I nearly yelled out the answer, so I just nodded my head excitedly.

"Great, welcome to the crew," he congratulated, but something told me that he was hiding something.

"…but of course you need to do a few… requirements," he continued. "But don't worry; they should be a piece of Oran Berry cake for someone like you."

"Mmm… Oran Berry cake…" Fang fantasized out loud, licking his muzzle.

"What is it?" I pressured, wondering if he was stalling at all.

"Well first of all, that coat, man you have a lot of work to get that prickly pelt smooth and soft." I wanted to electrocute him at the very second. Smooth and soft, he had to be crazy if he thought that he could do that!

I yelled out, "You think you can make a Jolteon's coat fluffy and shiny like a poochyenas?

"My fur isn't shiny, Falcon do you think my coat is shiny?" Fang asked. Falcon just shrugged. I just ignored Fang, knowing he wasn't getting the point. I was pretty much talking about a 'pet' poochyena. Maybe I should have made that a little more clearly, for Fang's sake.

"Yes, I think if we first get that muck out of your fur, we can transform those pine needles into soft luscious fur." Facepaw. Maybe he was the dumb one in this group after all… but hey, why shouldn't I give this a shot?

"Fine," I muttered, wondering if this was some kind of prank.

"Yuck! You reek!" I heard that canine yell. I didn't notice he was by my side, sniffing my forearms. He jumped back, rubbing his paw over his nose in disgust. I lifted my left paw and sniffed it, and I felt even sicker than when I ate Sugarcane sap. I did reek, and I just wanted my sense of smell to go away at that moment. I had no idea that I reeked so bad! Now I knew what Mum had to go through… ugh.

"Let's just get this over with," I mumbled unenthusiastically. I slowly padded over to Salty Gulf's shore about to jump in, but Hunter yelled over at me before I could. "Not over there Thunder! We won't be able to wash you with that salt in the water, follow us." I looked over my shoulder to see Fang already bounding ahead of Hunter, him slowly walking away from me. Falcon unfolded his wings and flew into the air at a quick speed. I sighed, and dashed after the group.

I certainly felt better than when I first woke up, but I had no idea how long we've been walking. Sooner or later we ended up at this small pond. No Pokémon was around, how early was it? I swear I haven't seen a single Pokémon besides Falcon, Fang, and Hunter in this forest. The sun seemed to be fully above the mountains, but only by a bit. I stared at the crystal blue water lying in front of me. There was certainly no water like this back in Maplewood.

"Okay first of all for your new member make over, give me that!" Hunter yelled. Before I could ask what he wanted me to give to him, he pounced at me with an amazing amount of speed. I dodged to the side effortlessly and he soon landed with a thud in the lake.

His head bobbed up and he spat out some water. "Hey! What did you do that for?" he complained. "I was just trying to take off that scarf! It looks more ragged than you did when you do!" I looked down at the scarf that hanged loosely around my neck. Claw marks were engraved in the scarf from Falcon's talons from last night's little… misunderstanding. It was also a dirty red, really mucky and grimy and had a few thorns stuck to it.

"Uh… what are you going to do with it?" I questioned nervously as Falcon used his talons to rake it off my neck. "Are you going to get rid of it?"

That red scarf was very important to me. I had it barely after I hatched out of my egg. I was so small when I had it, I could use it as a blanket or pillow. When I first opened my eyes, I saw I was wrapped up in it like a sleeping bag. Apparently my mom and dad decided to get some kind of present for each kit they had ever had. The item ends up being very important because it always reminds us of home. I had gotten the red scarf, and Aqua, my sister, has a cute pink-and-purple beaded necklace. My grown up brother, he's a leafeon named Solar, has a black scarf that he only wears on special occasions.

Hunter climbed out of the water, shaking water off his tampered orange pelt. "No, I'm going to send Fang off with the scarf to this friend of mine. Her name is Butterscotch, she's a leavanny, and she has a small business when she makes clothes for Pokémon and such. I bet she can fix this up for you in a jiffy!" he explained, finishing getting the rest of the water out of his fur. Fang's eyes lit up like lightning and he snatched the scarf right out of Falcon's strong talons, making another small cut in the leather. Before you know it, Fang ran off into the forest.

"Okay," Hunter chimed in. "Next step, jump in the lake, several Pokémon most likely already woke up and are thinking of where to go today." I blinked in surprise; he wanted me to actually jump in, with all the electricity shimmering in my fur? Usually I would have done that as an eevee, sure, but ever since I evolved all I did was pour a few buckets of water over my fur, to prevent any electrocution. I took a small step back, a little scared if I should even do this.

"Hey, come on, hurry up! We don't have all morning for this; we're supposed to meet up with a different group later today." I sighed. I couldn't do this, I couldn't. If there were any fish Pokémon in that lake, I would fry them into sushi. I just needed to think of some kind of excuse, or maybe I'll just flake out, I don't care if they call me a loser, as long as no one gets hurt from my careless-

Suddenly I was in the lake with a loud splash, my fur already soaked.

I sprawled through the water, surprised with whatever had just happened. I barely had enough time to hold my breath. I faced toward the surface of the water, and saw a blurry image of Hunter on the shoreline. I almost took in a deep breath as it started to get hard to hold my breath. I never swam for a long time, let alone going underwater. He stood at the edge, laughing hard, and Falcon had been snickering a bit as well, hovering over the water surface. Man was I mad, and I wished I could have controlled my electricity.

The watts of my powerful electricity zoomed through the water at the speed of light, making the whole water turn a bright yellow. I was consumed by the yellow light as lightning bolts struck out of the water, and I think it could have hit Falcon, but I wasn't sure. A few seconds later, I forced that anger aside and used all my power to hold in the energy. My lungs started to burn, making me slap my paws around like crazy to get towards the surface. Luckily, even though I was flailing my paws like a maniac, somehow it helped me get closer to the surface. My head bobbed out and I took in a deep gasp of air, my lungs begging for oxygen.

I shook the water from my fur, relieved to be out of the water after I reached the shoreline. Hunter tapped his foot impatiently, done laughing and now waiting for me to say something… I think. Falcon was tending to the tip of his wing for some reason. When we just stood there, Hunter finally broke the silence. "Thunder, I don't mean to be rude, but why did you nearly cook us into Stantler meat?"

"The same reason why you shoved me into the water," I cleverly countered. He raised an eyebrow at me, and a smile slowly appeared on his face. Actually, a smile slowly appeared on both of our faces. We just laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I don't know why, but we just laughed at the experience we just had. I bet if this was a cartoon, and someone watched what happened, they would be laughing too.

"What are you two laughing at?" Falcon questioned with an angry tone. "I nearly got fried into a main course, and now the tip of my wing is seared, and you guys are laughing?!" The fact that Falcon made a joke in that sentence made us laugh a little bit more. Falcon groaned, making me guess he was annoyed with us.

"GUYS!" yelled Fang as he rocketed through the trees and tripped into the lake. Even though that was hilarious, we stopped laughing. Fang quickly scrambled back onto land, forgetting to shake any water from his fur. He started to yell. "There's a meeting right now at Cedar Square, the general is supposed to have a huge announcement!"

Hunter and Falcon seemed to gasp in astonishment. I just tilted my head, confused. What was Cedar Square, and who was the general, and where was my scarf?

Before I could utter a word, Hunter started dashing on all fours toward the direction where Fang had crashed through. Falcon went sky high and Fang just ran after Hunter. If I didn't follow, who knows when I'd get my scarf back or when I'd see them again, so I just dashed after them, my muscles finally fully healed and working normally once more.

It wasn't long till we were there, and I could hear it a while off. It was packed, Pokémon of various species chatting amongst themselves. They weren't on grass; they were on old dead leaves, several… several leaves. I had no idea how many leaves there were, but it had to be an inch thick in the center of this area. I could barely hear over all the chatter; apparently the 'meeting' hasn't started yet. Falcon was searching for a place to land overhead, and Hunter and Fang were still a bit behind me. Cedar trees surrounded the area in a square figure, and a little beyond those trees were the regular pine trees of this forest… so that's why this is called "Cedar Square". The only other detail I noticed was a big tree. It was this… this huge, and I mean HUGE tree. I had no idea what kind of tree it was, but it was ginormous. Branches spread over the whole square and acted like a roof, shielding us from most sunlight, but a small peek of light every here and there. The branches were covered with newly grown leaves. There was some kind of ramp carved into the tree, leading up from the ground into a huge crevice in the tree, which seemed pretty cool.

This place was amazing. I even noticed that because of my running, no more water was on me.

I sat on the outskirts of the crowd on the leaf floor, staring up at that massive tree. It towered over us all in a thick shadow, and sunlight seemed to come out at the right places through the leaves. The ramp carved in the tree lead up to a small platform, and a giant crevice carved into the tree. I think some Pokémon were in the crevice, possibly one of them was the 'general', preparing for whatever this was about. Where the platform was, sunlight glazed down on, making a sort of spot light, which was very outstanding. This place must have been some kind of meeting area, but that just left two questions. I might have found out what Cedar Square was, but who was the general, and where was my scarf?

Hunter and Fang ran in close behind me. They stopped right next to me, exhausted and they dropped down into a laying down position. "Did… us… miss it?" Hunter asked, still catching his breath. I shook my head in reply, gaping at the big tree in amazement once more. Hunter stumbled back onto his two hind paws, and looked to where I was staring at.

"Oh, you're staring at the Great Sequoias? I guess everyone is surprised when they see this tree sometimes." I looked at him, confused.

"The Great Sequoias?"

Hunter stood there, staring at the tree a bit longer before he got what I meant. "Oh, sorry Thunder," he apologized, turning to face me. "I forgot that you have no idea about Sugarcane's places and stuff since you're new. This is Cedar Square, the home to The Great Sequoias. Cedar Square is the meeting place for the Pokémon of the forest, while The Great Sequoias is where the Pokémon announcing whatever major thing is told. I bet the supernatural spotlights got you a bit off guard. It's also the home to the general."

"Who's the general?" I questioned once more.

"They're practically the 'kings of the forest', but there actually go by a group name which-"

"Wait… group? You mean it isn't just one?" I interrupted.

"Oh, yeah, they're like a triad, but recently they have gotten some new member, so now it's more like a quadrant."

"What's the name of the new member?" I asked.

"I don't remember, it has only been recently, and I only heard rumors about it. Hopefully this assembly is going to be about whomever. Also, the name of the quad-" He was interrupted by a booming voice from The Great Sequoias.

"Fellow forest Pokémon!" yelled the voice. I stood up on my hind legs clumsily to try and see who was up on the platform. Luckily, because of the supernatural sun spotlights, it stood out quite well. There was some kind of forest Pokémon, nothing that looked special. It was a loudred, a Pokémon that had this huge mouth, was mostly purple, and had stereo–like ears. The forest Pokémon slowly grew quiet. Soon it was a still silence and everyone's eyes were on the loudred.

"Give it up for-" he started, but was interrupted from a voice inside the tree trunk.

"Enough with the introductions please; they already know who we are." The voice boomed out. The Loudred bowed obediently and walked off the platform into the crowd of Pokémon.

Out stood one Pokémon and it looked very strong and muscular. It resembled a bull, mostly gray and had huge brown horns that stood on the sides of his head. He seemed to charge out, about to jump off the wooden platform and into the crowd, but he skidded to a stop at the edge.

"Please Terrakion, that is quite rude to barge out like that," a majestic voice lectured, sounding a bit faint from where I was. I started to try and edge myself closer to The Great Sequoias, the crowd Pokémon ignoring me while doing so. After going about a yard on the outline of the crowd, I saw that I couldn't go any further, trees and other Pokémon now in my path. The only bright side was that I could hear just a tiny bit better.

I starred up at the tree to see that the Pokémon who must have had that majestic voice had already walked out. Unlike who I found out was called 'Terrakion', this Pokémon seemed to be gentle and kind. It resembled a green deer, standing on the platform with ease and grace.

"Sorry Virizion, but I always like to see a crowd!" Terrakion apologized, a fake smile on his face. Faint whispers came from the crowd of Pokémon near the back.

"Seriously Virizion," a hardy voice hollered, once again from inside the Sequoias. "Stop treating him like you're his mother, tsk, tsk…" A third Pokémon came out, a Pokémon that seemed to be a mix of both Terrakion and I'm guessing 'Virizion'. A mixture of grace and strength; he'd be most qualified to be the leader of the trio… or quadrant. He resembled a blue horse, with a sort of beard on his chest, and with weird antlers on his head. He pushed through the arguing duo on stage, and starred upon the crowd; us.

Something started to bother me. Virizion and Terrakion, those names sounded familiar. I definitely never saw these Pokémon personally, but the names… so familiar…

"Pokémon of Sugarcane!" he announced. "We are The Swords of Justice, and we have come here for an important announcement!" T-T-The Swords of Justice?! Now I know where I've heard these names before, in a legend my mom had told me about a year before I evolved into a Jolteon! They were spoken in myth to have saved some forest Pokémon from a forest fire, I think made by humans, but I'm not sure. They hid away from the humans and always helped Pokémon in need.

"I am Cobalion, leader of The Swords of Justice. This is Virizion," he tilted his head in Virizion's direction. "…and this is Terrakion." He then tilted his head in Terrakion's direction.

"Cobalion, they already know who we are, you don't need to give this royal announcement thingy," Terrakion mentioned. 'Cobalion' gave him a stern look, and instead of looking all muscular and brave, Terrakion shrank back in recoil, as if flinching from a move. Cobalion cleared his throat and continued.

"Like I was saying… we have an important announcement to be told." Excited murmurs came from the crowd. "Ahem, so we have been mentioned as legends all over the world. As The Swords of Justice, and sometimes called The Three Musketeers. Well now The Three Musketeers name won't be suitable for us anymore."

I heard a few Pokémon gasping, and a few saying, 'I knew it!' and 'The rumors were true!'

"Yes now, we have a new member! He has been taught lessons constantly by yours truly, and after this little… problem, he has become a true member of The Swords of Justice." Cheers rocketed out of the crowd, including myself. Everyone seemed to be forgetting about whatever problem he mentioned.

"His name is Keldeo! I think he has become a perfect member for being a… 'Fourth Musketeer'" More cheers blew out of the crowd as the Pokémon 'Keldeo' walked out.

I wasn't that impressed as I was for the others. He was about half their size. That was a bit of a letdown, but none of the cheers died down from that. He looked like a cool warrior pony a bit, with a huge horn on his head. He galloped up to the side of Virizion, who hasn't said a word after Cobalion arrived.

"This-" Cobalion started, but was cut off from Keldeo's excitement.

"I'm Keldeo, the new member of the Swords of Justice! I'm so happy, I have dreamed of being one ever since I heard the legend!" He did a backflip to show how much excitement he had.

More cheers.

This intro went on for quite a while, and he got a bit off topic by talking about this journey to where The Swords of Justice were supposedly at and such, then boasted about how awesome he was. After a minute of his bragging, Virizion interrupted him.

"Um… that's enough Keldeo; they've heard a bunch already."

"Thank you Keldeo. Now we just thought we should've made this announcement back at where we grew up, so here we are! Right Virizion, Terrakion?" My jaw hanged open at that sentence. They grew up here?! This forest was getting a heck of a lot better by the minute!

Virizion and Terrakion both nodded. "Yes, there is just no place like home!" Terrakion claimed, and then he gave out a hearty laugh.

They then did this royal goodbye thing, with bowing and junk, and then they walked back into The Great Sequoias. Slowly, the crowd walked back into the forest, knowing the meeting was over. I was almost turned into a doormat getting out of the square. I headed back toward the pond from earlier, hoping that the gang would know where I was.

Ends up they didn't, except Falcon.

"Hey Falcon, are the others coming?" I asked.

He shook his head. "They're not that smart." Some Pokémon were gathered at the pond, getting a drink and just chatting up a storm.

"Hey Falcon, I'm gonna back to my den, and tell Fang to just drop it off there, okay?" He nodded, and then flew into the air, already going to do the job. I sighed, and started to dash back to my drafty den.

I didn't go terribly fast, and I kind of did a little detour. I walked, starting to get used to it. I started to feel like when I was an eevee a bit. I kept going a while on a sort of trail. Pokémon were walking ahead and behind me, and also in a different direction. The road wasn't really that crowded, but I saw a Pokémon going the opposite way every few minutes.

I enjoyed the walk; it was pretty fun… till I came to this very strange place.

The trail seemed to continue into a place covered in white. Some more of this white stuff fell from the sky in the distance. I felt a cold chill swept over me as I stopped right in front of where the trail turned powdery.

Someone bumped into me as I stopped. "HEY what's the hold-up?!" He yelled in anger. I turned around to see a huge white bear, with icicles hanging from its chin.

"Haven't you ever seen snow before?!" he hollered in demand.

"Um… actually-"

"Oh Arceus, are you serious?! You haven't seen snow before?! Get a life buddy!" He shoved me off the trail with ease, falling on my side, and walked into the snowy depths in triumph.

_What a douc… happy thoughts… happy thoughts…_

I had to get home anyway. My little detour lasted longer than I thought, and the sky was a blend of orange, pink, red, and a few other light colors. The sun slowly sank in the distance, and I knew I had to head back.

If only I knew where to go, I never was shown around the forest at all yet.

I dashed in the opposite direction of the snowy part of the forest… off the trail. I didn't feel like heading back there any time soon. I looked back at the trail and snowy part of the forest, wondering if that place was just full of jerks.

**_BAM!_**

I fell lopsided in the grass as I crashed into someone, hearing a surprised gasp from the other Pokémon I ran into.

**Author's Note: Okay guys, finally finished with this chapter, took a while, sorry about that. So to sum it up, Thunder met some friends, and found out exactly who Falcon was. He also found out that Sugarcane Forest was where Cobalion and the gang (besides Keldeo) grew up. He then ran into a mysterious figure on his way home. Can you guess who it is? Probably not, probably so, but in the next chapter, we'll start seeing things from Shard's point of view… and I got so much plans for that one! Okay guys, until next time (and like Pewdiepie says ^-^) see ya bros later! *brofist***


	3. The Secret

**Me: Hey guys, we're back with some more Thunder and Ice!**

**Thunder: I know you guys are gonna love this chapter!**

**Shard: Yeah, and I'm in it, yay!**

**Thunder: It's been long enough, but it was fun being in the spotlight.**

**Shard: Well it's my turn today stage hog. *smiles***

**Nascha: I'm here too!**

**Shard: No spoilers *pushes Nascha out***

**Me: Well these intros are long enough as they are so let's just continue the story.**

**Shard: Shadow doesn't own any Pokémon.**

**Thunder: Can someone answer my question from earlier, who DOES own Pokémon?**

**Shard's POV**

_I was walking on a trail in the middle of some forest. It wasn't Sugarcane, I was sure of that. I was shivering in fear. I saw several laid-back Pokémon by their dens, and I was severely confused. How did I get here?_

_Then a Pokémon appeared in the distance, walking in the opposite direction on the trail, but he stopped. "Are you lost?" he asked. It was an umbreon. I shook my head shyly, lying._

_He didn't leave yet. "Sugarcane forest is straight ahead, you'll be there in no time at all." The umbreon walked on in the other direction. How did he know where I wanted to go? I turned around to see the Pokémon again, but he was gone… how? Everything seemed very strange; I just wanted to get back to Sugarcane forest, so I walked a little faster._

My eyes opened, and I found myself in my den. The sun seemed to be just coming up behind the mountains and into the sky. It was just a dream, a weird, confusing dream. I stood up on my straw bed, and stretched a bit, my eyes still adjusting to the light. I took small steps off my bed, and looked around the room. I saw some logs in the back of the cave in the shadows. My pile of berries was hidden in a hole in a rock. I walked over to them willingly. A Sitrus berry would be perfect for today. I reached in and pawed out one, and it rolled out of the pile and landed at my blue paws. I picked it up with my jaws and walked over to my straw bed. Breakfast in bed, it was perfect for today.

I bit into the delicious berry immediately, then finished it off and got some energy for the glorious day. I couldn't wait to get to my friends' houses, to see what they planned for today. Hopefully they would remember that today was my birthday.

I walked out into the dim light from the sun over the mountains. I stepped onto some light snow that covered the ground last night. Spring was coming soon, and when it ends, it would stop snowing up here in the Glacier Slopes. I saw a noctowl and three baby hoothoot flying through the forest, most likely to their nest. The noctowl flew very slowly while the hoothoot flew clumsily in the air in a line behind her. I could recognize this noctowl anywhere with her nestlings.

"Good morning Nascha! Long time no see!" I greeted through the cold breeze. She noticed my call, and she signaled her nestlings to land. Nascha descended fast onto a tree branch. The others did it a little slowly, but with no problems.

"Hi Shard, it's been about a few weeks now, hasn't it? Sorry, I've been busy with the hatchlings, teaching them how to fly while Taipa gathers some food and branches for the nest. It's harder than it looks," Nascha cawed. I didn't really blame her, since she was nocturnal and I wasn't.

"Well they seem to be doing a great job on their landing!" I remarked. Her three kids smiled happily.

"Yes, you know teaching them to fly would be stupid unless they knew how to land!" We kind of laughed, but not that long.

"Oh yeah Shard, happy birthday, hope you have a great day!" she squawked.

I smiled. "You remembered!"

"Like I would forget, I was even going to come over when it started to get dark today. I'll never forget that time when the eggs fell out of the nest and you caught them before they hit the ground!"

I blushed, embarrassed. "It was nothing, really."

"No, to me, it was a miracle! If my babies died, I just wouldn't know where I would be now."

I laughed nervously, shuffling my paws in the snow. "Well let's ignore the bad stuff, so how's Taipa doing?"

She seemed to lighten up. "Great, he just loves playing with the kids and telling jokes, he's the best husband a bird could ever have!"

"Great, well, I'll be go-" I started.

"Talking about that, have you found anyone special in your life yet?" Nascha interrupted. My cheeks grew a bright red.

"No, no, no, not yet, at least, anyway," I responded, a little jittery.

"Well, I'll leave now; you seem to be as red as a Cheri Berry." I looked at the ground nervously. Her hatchlings seemed to yawn in exhaustion and shivering a bit in the cold; they were ready to retreat to the nest.

Nascha flew into the breezy air and waited for her kids to do the same thing. "Also come over later to the nest and we'll give you your birthday present, preferably tonight!" I waved my paw as she fluttered off into the depths of the forest with her kids following behind.

Nascha was a nice noctowl, and her husband, Taipa the noctowl, was a pretty cool guy. It was nice to see them again. I then remembered what I was doing in the first place. I was going to head over to Star's den, and see if we could hang out, and see what she would do since it was my birthday. If Nascha remembered, Star would definitely remember. I would also stop and see Skylar, Petal, and Lily so we could hang out in our usual group; maybe go to the assembly at Cedar Square starting later today together.

I pounced through the piles of snow happily, not wanting to wait to get over to Star's den. Snow flew into the air as I jumped into a pile of powdery, soft snow. Playing in the snow never got old. The forest seemed to be quiet, with the Pokémon of the forest still sleeping while the night dwellers headed back to their homes. As I pasted by one pine tree, I jumped into another pile of luscious snow as if it was a leaf pile from autumn, sending more fluffy snow into the air. Then a bird-like Pokémon seemed to fly out of the pine tree, as if it was startled. It was a swellow, some reason having its nest so high up in the mountains, but why, I might never know.

A few minutes later after padding through the snow, my blue paws touched soft blades of grass. I recalled where Star's den was, so I started heading down the mountain at regular running pace. I dodged a few boulders and trees along the way, and soon I was at the bottom of the snowy hills that was called Frosty Hills. I headed in the western direction, having where all my friends lived mapped into my brain, with a few landmarks along the way to help guide me. I saw a tree stump to my left about one or two minutes later, I was close. I saw a claw mark left on some pine tree's trunk, another landmark, telling me I was closer. About one or two more minutes later, I was standing nervously at the side of Star's den.

I timidly knocked my paw on the side of the den, lightly. I waited and there was no answer. I was about to head back, thinking it was no use in knocking again, and looking inside would be rude, when surprisingly a black furry head popped out. It was so sudden; I made a weak squeal in surprise and jumped back. I hated it when that zorua always pulled tricks like that.

"Hi Shard! You look well!" she teased. I just made an annoyed face at her.

"Oh come on, I hate your pranks Star," I said dryly. She laughed and came out of the den.

"So what's up?" she asked.

"I was wondering if you could come over later today, maybe we can go to Cedar Square for the assembly together, or go to Psyduck Pond."

"Uh…" she looked around nervously. "I can't, I have to… to…" She paused briefly. "...to... uh... go... go jump… go jump off a cliff!" She ran in the opposite direction fast. I gave no effort in running after her. Soon she was out of sight. That must have been a new record for the worst excuse ever. She was hiding something, she had to be, but what was it? Why out of all the days, would she make an excuse to leave today, after how important it was to me?

Oh well, thinking about a question with no answers would be worthless use of time. Even though it hurts to think Star made an excuse to get away on my birthday. Maybe if I headed out to Skylar's tree next, she could probably know. I started to run to the southern direction, going past several pine trees. A few minutes later, the pine trees turned into nice green evergreen trees. This was the area where a small amount of evergreen trees stood. I heard a few of the birds chirping, already up and ready for the new day. The evergreens started small at first, but grew to be bigger. I stopped at one of the big evergreens, full of several chirping bird Pokémon. It had Skylar's scent, so I knew this was the tree she was staying at.

"Skylar!" I weakly yelled up through the tree. The chirps seemed to die down, but not completely. "Skylar, it's me, Shard!" I yelled up again shyly, a little louder. The continuous talk of the Pokémon seemed to get a little quieter from that, and I waited. About ten or fifteen seconds later, a tan feathered bird with a rainbow-like mane Pokémon flew out of the evergreen tree. That was Skylar, the pidgeotto alright. She zoomed down at a fast speed, and then opened her wings at the right moment to make a quick stop, and she landed on the ground with quite ease.

"Hi Skylar, see your wings are as good as ever," I mentioned.

"Oh yeah, they're doing great! I already had a sky battle and it was a blast! These wings are as good as new after the accident! Of course, they would probably would be broken still if it wasn't for you." I started to blush in embarrassment again.

"Oh, it was nothing; I just like helping friends-"

"Nothing?!" she interrupted. "That wasn't more than just anything, but you saved my life! I am forever grateful to you for that! When I was battling Falcon that staraptor in an epic sky battle by a cliff, and he accidently broke one of my wings, and I was sprawling out of the sky, and Falcon was just too exhausted from being on the brink of fainting that he couldn't dive down and save me, and just before I fell over the side of the cliff and landed in the ocean below, you ran out of the stands and caught me by my good wing! I nearly plummeted into the ocean Shard; you cannot say that that was nothing!" I stared at the grass on the ground in embarrassment.

"Man, I _hate _water! When my wings get wet, I just can't fly and it feels so weird and nasty…" she continued, going into a constant chatter about how she feared water and hated it, even though she had to drink it every day.

"So anyway… why are you here again?" Skylar asked, finally done talking. My cheeks went back to its usual light blue color. I looked at Skylar.

"I was just wondering if we could hang out, maybe go-" I was interrupted again before I could finish.

"Hang out?!" she exclaimed. "I-I can't! So sorry… but I have a… a… another… another sky battle! Yeah, another sky battle this afternoon!"

"But I was suggesting we could go to the assembly this morning together."

"Uh… well, I… I have two sky battles! Yeah, a rematch with… with Falcon this morning! Since we couldn't finish it about two months ago, we ordered a rematch!" Skylar continued to lie.

"I'm sorry…" Skylar apologized. "I… I got to go now. Rematch starts like… like right now!" She flew up into the sky, out of reach, and soon she was out of sight.

Skylar too?! Why was she lying as well? Why did Star and Skylar both lie to me on my birthday? This day was very important to me, I was finally sixteen! I would think with how smart Skylar was, she could have made up a better excuse, but still, why would they both want to stay away from me? Did I do something wrong? Well, maybe Petal and Lily would know why. Lily was supposed to be sleeping over at Petal's den last night for some sort of sleep over, but I felt like there was some other reason. So that meant I would just head over to Petal's den. It'd be easy to spot, since she had a bunch of flowers around the outsider of her den. I started to run, but felt tired after already running over to Star's and Skylar's places. I started to walk in the north-western direction. My tongue lolled out of my mouth in exhaustion. I hadn't realized how tired I was till then.

As I walked, I realized which area I was in. I didn't want to encounter her today, out of all the days. My fur trembled at the thought of her. I picked up the pace as I started to walk past a small group of dens with carvings engraved in the rock walls. Not now… please have her not be here. I lowered my head and tried to sneak past the back of the group of dens. I tried to be as quiet as I could. I was only staring down at the ground the whole time. As I walked slowly, I bumped into something. I looked up fearfully, shivering, and then saw her, jumping back in fear and made a pathetic squeal.

It was her, a Pokémon about twice my size. Her shadowy black mane was full of zapping electricity. She had piercing yellow eyes that sent a shiver down your spine. Her smudgy black fur stuck up to make her more intimidating and look bigger than normal. She was said to be one of the most popular Pokémon of the forest. She humiliated several Pokémon and most Pokémon are fooled to think that she was nice, but not me. I knew that this Pokémon had a heart of darkness. This luxray… she just made me shiver and freak out, making me yap out weak squeals in fear instead of actually being able to talk. When I looked up at her, I shrunk back, trying to get close to the ground instinctively. Ruby was nothing but pure evil and bad news.

"Hello… runt!" she roared, her voice screechy and terrifying. I trembled more in fear, wishing that she didn't always push my shyness.

"I… I…" I stammered, but then my attempt of talking turned into a worthless, pitying squeal. I looked down in embarrassment. She laughed at my worthlessness.

"Hahaha! You still can't even say more than a pitying squeal to me! How pathetic… it really is fun to torment you! You still think you can sneak by my territory? I could smell you from a mile away and even see you through my den walls with my special eyes… birthday girl! " She knew it was my birthday?! Oh no, now what's she going to do to me…?

"Consider this a birthday present runt! I'll give you ten seconds to get out of my tribe's territory, and I won't maul you into pieces." She taunted, leaning in till we were face to face, her muzzle only an inch away from mine. I closed my eyes, not wanting to look into her piercing, dead eyes.

"One…" she started. I could barely manage to open one eye, to see she was snarling, showing her deadly, dagger-like fangs. I jumped back in surprise and horror, her breathe having a revolting scent. "Two… three…" she continued to torment. I nearly screamed. I sprawled into a dash clumsily, and then tripped only a few feet away from her.

"Four… FIVE…" she yelled after me, her counting now turning into deafening roars. I quickly got back up and started to go into a full-out run, holding in tears with as much strength I could. I tripped again, about ten or fifteen yards away.

"SIX… SEVEN…" she continued, her roars of hatred getting louder. I couldn't help it anymore, and I started crying. Warm tears edged down my face in sorrow. I got back up with my remaining strength and dignity, and ran as far as I could.

"EIGHT! NINE!" she continued, forcing more tears to run down my face. I soon passed a tree, a tree that helped mark the border of her tribe territory. I panted heavily from the fright, tears still running down my face. I collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion and sorrow, tears falling onto the grass. I heard her roaring laugh from her tribe dens. Her laugh of triumph… the laugh I heard so many times in the past, as I am always cowering and just run like a coward… well I'll face it, I am a coward. Sometimes she just beats me brutally, and I'm unable to fight back. This was the worst… birthday… ever.

I shoved the depressing thoughts away. It was barely morning, the sun almost fully above the mountains in the distance, I was sure this day was going to get better. Hopefully Petal and Lily would understand what was going on here. I continued running north-west, forgetting about the pain Ruby always put me through.

I ran and ran, wanting to get there as fast as possible to make this day better. I ran past some dens that I didn't really care about, and soon I was in front of a den with vivid flowers surrounding the edges of the den. I smelt traces of Lily and Petal, new scents. They were around here somewhere. I looked into the den shyly, thinking it was partly rude. I saw two straw beds, Petal's own berry storage inside a rock, and remains of a fire in the middle of the den; that meant they made a pit fire. I saw some other stuff, but no signs of Petal or Lily.

I called out their names timidly. "Petal, Lily? Are you here?" My voice sounded a bit raspy.

A voice called out. "Oh thank goodness, is that you Shard?" It sounded like Lily. It seemed to come from around the den. I peered around the corner and saw Lily and Petal. Petal had her leaf bobbing on her head, as a normal leafeon would have. Lily still had her clean gray fur and pretty hazel eyes, still looking like a normal minccino, except she had a pink bow on her right ear.

Petal had her paws over her ears, a troubled look in her amber eyes. "Thank goodness your hear Shard," Lily said in her usual royal accent, her gray tail slowly moving back and forth. "Petal and I have been arguing over this all morning, can you come over and help us?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Uh… okay?" I answered.

"Splendid!" she replied. "Come over here, by this flower." I walked over next to Lily, with Petal still with her brown paws covering her leaf-like ears.

"Look at this flower," she ordered, pointing at one of the flowers with her gray paw. It was bright silver, it truly looked fascinating. The petals glimmered in the sun light it seemed, and it seemed to be like a little perfect flower.

"Wow, it looks gorgeous," I admitted.

"Yes indeed," Lily started with her usual royal accent. "And I thought that Petal should dig around its roots and take it out of the ground, then put it in some sort of pot, but she won't listen to me!"

"It's just a flower!" Petal yelled, standing up in anger.

"It's a unique one-of-a-kind flower that will be trampled if it's left out here!" Lily turned around to face Petal in the eye.

"Like anyone will run over the flower!" Petal countered.

"It can happen!" Lily whined.

"The flower should be left outside where it can get proper sunlight and grow like other flowers should!" I watched them argue in disbelief. All of this fighting just over a flower, even though I found it to be quite unique.

"Shard, who do you think is right?!" Lily demanded. I snapped out of my train of thought. "Is it me or Petal?!"

"Yeah, is it Lily or me?!" I felt shocked, being the one to make the decision. I was always a character on the sidelines, watching everyone make the decision… but now?

It certainly was a hard choice. If I went with Lily's idea, we could keep the flower from being ruined at all, but then Petal would have to take it outside for proper sunlight. If Petal just left it outside the whole time in some sort of pot, there wouldn't really be much difference from leaving it in the ground. If I went with Petal's idea, then it would have to grow like all the other flowers, the natural, right way. It would blossom nicely and shine in the sunlight each day.

"I… I think that Petal has the right idea," I finally answered. Petal smiled, knowing that she was right. Lily jaw dropped in disbelief.

"W-W-Why, why is Petal right and I aren't S-Shard?" Lily stammered.

"Easy. If we put the flower inside, then it will have to be taken out every day for sunlight. If we just leave it outside, then it won't really be any different than leaving it in the ground."

"We can always get a heating lamp!" Lily argued.

"Lily, seriously, we are Pokémon. We don't have heating lamps or any of the advanced technology like humans have. It would be challenging to make a pot for the plant itself! We aren't humans."

"I… I know," Lily admitted. "It's just, I haven't gotten fully used to forest life yet…" she looked down at the ground in sorrow.

"I know Lily; it must have been hard to have lost your trainer. Especially since you were always pampered in a rich mansion, and never had to fight."

"Yeah, it feels a bit weird not to have a dress on," Lily mentioned. I kind of cowered when she said that, talking about Pokémon wearing dresses seemed… awkward.

"Well you can at least wear accessories," I stated, trying to cheer her up.

"Shard, why is your fur stained with tears?" Lily asked, worried. I have totally forgotten about Ruby by then.

"Ruby…" I said solemnly.

"Ruby, that jerk, always being mean to you," Lily stated.

"I agree. That girl is bad news. I just frankly think she's jealous of you Shard, since you look so pretty," Petal mentioned.

"And how dare she do this on your birthday!" Lily yelled. Hey, they remembered today was my birthday!

"Oh yeah guys, I was wondering if we could hang out later today, maybe go to the assembly together!"

Petal and Lily looked at each other, as if they were… uncertain? "I… I can't!" Lily yelled. "I got to… uh… goes and start working on a project!" Lily then ran away on all fours, and Lily _hates _running on all four paws. Lily was making an excuse to get away as well… why were they doing this?

"I can hang out!" Petal chimed in. Good, at least Petal wasn't trying to do that to.

"Petal, I have to ask you something."

"What?"

"I've been over to Star's and Skylar's, and they both made excuses to get away like Lily had. Do you know what's going on?" Petal seemed to be taken back at the question, as if she didn't want to answer it.

"Uh… I have… I have no idea." I could tell Petal was lying, since she was trying to avoid my stare.

"Petal, why are you lying, why on my birthday out of all the days?" I felt so sad at that moment, having my entire best friends lie to me on my birthday, and I also got bullied by Ruby while at it.

"I-I'm sorry Shard. I can't tell you why, it's a secret that you can't know about."

"Even on my birthday, my sixteenth birthday?" Petal starred at the ground in guilt. I sighed.

"Fine, let's just head over to the assembly, it should be starting soon," I stated. Petal didn't say a word as we walked side by side toward Cedar Square.

I was torn inside. They were keeping a secret from me, my best friends. Hopefully as the day went on, something will reveal.

**Author's Note: Hey guys, its Shadow Snivy again with another Author's note! To sum it up, it's Shard's birthday! She wants to hang out with her friends, so she heads over to Star, Skylar, Lily, and Petal. Ends up they have a secret hiding from her, out of all the days! They all made excuses to get away, except Petal, who was the only one who didn't run away. Now they are on their way to the assembly with Keldeo and stuff (that won't be repeated). I would continue on this chapter, but it got a little longer than I intended it to be, so I'm sorry I left it at a sad part of the story (cliffhanger!). This chapter I made actually was made faster than usual, so I will try and work on the next chapter as soon as I can, but I have to work on my other stories as well.**


	4. Secrets Revealed

**Thunder: Welcome back to another chapter of Thunder and Ice!**

** Me: I promised I would type it and get it up as fast as I could, but I had to go back a few times to revise it.**

** Shard: You'll finally find out the secret in this chapter!**

** Me: I am so sorry for leaving you at a sad ending last chapter; I couldn't make the chapters too long for you guys.**

** Thunder: You sure are talking a lot this time around Shadow.**

** Me: I'm not talking that much… well maybe, I don't care. I'm just a bit excited, that's all.**

** Shard: If you're so excited, then stop talking and start the story!**

** Thunder: *Feels like he's forgetting something***

** Shard: Okay, back to Thunder and Ice! Shadow doesn't own Pokémon!**

** Thunder: *Remembers* Wait! Will someone answer- *Shard covers his muzzle with her paw*.**

**Shard's POV**

With my head down, we walked into Cedar Square, Petal still by my side. We haven't shared a word ever since we were back at her den, when she talked about the secret. It had been awkward the whole way. When we arrived at Cedar Square, it was really crowded with continuous talk; I could hardly even understand what they were saying except for _blah, blah, blah! _Then an announcement from The Great Sequoias platform went off, a booming voice from a loudred.

_About 20-30 minutes later…_

The Swords of Justice finished the end of their speech, and they all headed back into The Great Sequoias. Deafening chatter rose up again, making it hard to hear once more. I remembered previous meetings in Cedar Square, and knew I had to get out fast, or become a doormat. My leafeon friend still seemed dazed from the announcement. I lifted my crystal tail and smacked Petal in the face, snapping her out of her trance, than I leaned in close and yelled in her ear, "Hurry, before we are turned into rug skinned carpets!" Petal seemed to understand what we were in and we ran out of Cedar Square swiftly, hearing the crunch of leaves below our paws, leftover leaves that survived from all the way back in autumn. Soon, we were out of Cedar Square, with no injuries and only a few dead leaves in our fur.

"Man, I always hate that," Petal groaned, trying to get the leaves out of her apricot fur.

"What can you do? Anyone who can control that could control the legendary Pokémon themselves," I joked, scratching a few dead leaves out of my icy fur.

Petal laughed. "I can't seem to get these leaves out! Even though I'm a grass type, I don't prefer dead leaves in my fur… so hard to get out."

"This so far is a wonderful birthday," I mumbled sarcastically.

Petal turned to face me, a look of concern on her face, which usually is rare. "Don't say it like that Shard; I know that this day will get better for you." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know? You know this day is going to get better? How can you know, it's not like you can predict the future," I argued, losing my temper.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help-" Petal started, but I cut her off.

"Help?! Talking and trying to predict the future won't help anything Petal! The only way I can feel better is for you to tell me the secret or for once get a present from of you guys!" I screamed, uncontrollably. After I let those negative feelings out, I felt so guilty for yelling at Petal. I sounded selfish and greedy about presents. I didn't mean to say that, but I meant to say that I have been having the worst birthday ever, which also would sting a bit. Petal stood next to me, stunned. Most likely because I yelled at her and that isn't in my shy nature at all.

"I-I'm sorry, Petal." I started. "My anger got the best of me, I just-"

"No Shard, hold it right there," Petal interrupted. For a second, it sounded like she was going to scold me.

"Shard, I'm the one who should be sorry. This must have been the worst day ever for you since… that incident long ago… and I have not even tried to make it better." The mention of the incident made me shiver. "I should have been more humble Shard, come on, follow me." Before I could object or say another word, Petal started to run. I groaned, knowing I had to follow her. I dashed after Petal in hot pursuit, and in a minute, we were running side by side.

Petal and I stood at a steady pace. I started to pant a bit, so tired from running around all day. I watched as Petal teasingly ran ahead of me, and I dragged behind her defiantly, not in the mood for a race. We ended up at Petal's den, for some weird reason.

She ran inside, instructing me to wait outside. I groaned as she dashed in, still hating this day. A minute or two later, Petal bounded out, a leather handle for a sort of satchel around her neck, like a Treasure bag.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked.

"Some new shop at Forest Grotto," she answered. "We can go there later today if you want."

"Um… no thanks," I muttered.

"Well, okay, let's go!" she hollered, and ran off. I dashed after her, my paws starting to ache. The satchel dangled along Petal's neck as she ran, the leather case securely shut.

A short while later, with the sun in the middle of the sky, we arrived in front of a big den that I didn't recognize. We were close to the beach, and a salty aroma filled the air. This den appeared to be some sort of business, like what humans do.

"This is so cool Shard. Everyone around the forest has been making all these cool shops, and this one is what Pokémon call, 'Serperior Spa.' You _have_ to have an appointment!" Petal exclaimed while shuffling her tan paws excitingly.

"…Okay?" I replied, nervous. I looked around the den, to reveal all of these attractions.

Inside the den, there was a counter with a servine at it, and I could see some Poké shining from behind the counter. There were all of these tree trunks farther inside, cut up to look like a small wooden bed, with straw on top for comfort. I saw some Pokémon on these cut-up logs and had mud covering their faces and sliced up Oran berries over their eyes. A few servine were giving them some sort of massage while they rested on the logs. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Outside of the den, there were Pokémon relaxing in some hot springs. Other Pokémon were relaxing in mud pits… seriously, what was with all this mud?

"Uh… Petal? What is all of this… stuff?" I questioned, undoubtedly confused.

"You'll have to see for yourself!" she answered mysteriously, and she walked into the spa calmly. I followed after her, hesitantly. I stood behind Petal at the counter shyly.

"We want the full package!" Petal announced in front of the servine clerk before she could reply.

"For your friend as well?" the servine asked. Petal gave a nod in reply, and then unlatched her satchel to reveal all of this Poké, and she picked some up in her mouth and placed it on the counter. She ended up taking a lot out. "Very well then," the clerk continued. "Head over to the spa beds, an attendant will take care of you shortly."

Petal obeyed obediently, and I followed after her, thinking this was just a little 'too' humane for Pokémon. She jumped up onto a 'spa bed' and settled down, the leaf on her head bobbing. I struggled to get on a spa bed by Petal, and then I settled down.

"You are going to absolutely love this Shard, 100% guaranteed!" Petal remarked.

"Well, I don't have any Poké with-" I started.

"No worries!" Petal interrupted. "It's on me Shard, just for you!" I smiled at her generosity.

"Thanks Petal, I can see this day getting better already."

"I told you!" Petal joked. We laughed a bit, and then stopped when one servine and one serperior came out. The servine and serperior were both holding carved, wooden pots full of mud and two slices of Oran berries each.

"Don't worry about the mud," Petal reassured. "It's actually quite soothing!"

The serperior came next to me, struggling with the pot and the Oran berry slices coiled up in his tail. He settled down the pot of mud and Oran berry slices next to me calmly, and then dipped his tail in the jar. He took his mud-covered tail out and started to rub it on my face. It felt soothing, but a bit slimy as well. I shrunk back a bit as he rubbed it over my face. My eyes were closed the whole time. When he told me to open my eyes, I did it hesitantly. I could see the mud on my face, and even though it felt weird at first, it felt better now than before.

The serperior could obviously know it was my first time here. "Okay, so next, I'll put these Oran berry slices over your eyes," he instructed. He was about to, but first, he said,

"You know, you have pretty eyes." I blushed at the compliment. "They're different from a normal glaceon's eyes. Also, they're a pretty shade of purple." I stopped blushing, getting the idea of what he meant. He grabbed the slices of the berries with his muddy tail finally, and he slowly placed them on my eyes, cutting off my eyesight. "I'll be right back," he explained, and when it went silent, I knew he was gone.

"Isn't this great, Shard?" I heard Petal ask.

"Uh…" I tried to think of the right words. "I'm just a little confused right now," I replied.

"What's there to be confused about," Petal responded.

"It's just… why are we just sitting here, mud on our faces and slices of an Oran berry over our eyes?"

"The mud is supposed to do some sort of thing to get all that unnecessary oil on you fur off, and it's very rejuvenating! The Oran berry slices make your eyes less puffy and also get rid of those dark circles you get around your eyes," she answered, sounding like an expert.

"Ugh, I hate it when you get dark circles over your eyes."

"I know, right?" she agreed. "Hey Shard, I think that serperior was into you."

"No… he just likes my eye color. He's not into me, he's into my looks," I murmured grudgingly.

"Well you have to admit it's a pretty shade of purple," Petal exclaimed.

"True," I admitted.

At that time, I heard a slither, informing me that a serperior or two had come back. I then felt something rhythmically pound on my back, which felt very soothing and relaxing.

"W-w-what I-is t-this…" I asked, my voice being shaking with whoever was karate-chopping my back.

"I-it I-is c-called an m-m-massage," she replied, her voice muffled as well.

"It's a-a-awesome," I stated.

_20 minutes later…_

They removed the slices of Oran berry from my eyes, and chipped off the mud mask. I felt my blue fur around my face with my paws, and it didn't feel that different, except my face felt well.

"Shard, come outside, it's time for our mud treatments!" We walked out of the den, refreshed, and stood at the edge of a mud pit. Petal slowly climbed in, than relaxed in it. I followed her step, sitting next to her in the mud.

"This feels nice," I stated.

"That's what she said," Petal cracked.

"Not funny," I groaned. "Those jokes are terrible."

"I always wanted to try it!" Petal replied happily! We shared a few laughs.

About ten, maybe fifteen minutes later, Petal started to climb out. "We can't stay in too long," she explained as I crawled out.

"Next, we head over to the hot springs!" Petal told.

"Uh… Petal," I started, trying to get her attention.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm an ice type, as you can see," I continued, my tone a little bitter.

"I know, I know, but I'm going to go in, while you should go into this side pool, closest to the entrance. It's not a hot spring, it's basically just a pool of cold water," Petal explained.

"Oh… okay," I said. I wished she would have come with me, but I just had to wash off this mud. I padded away from the hot springs and other Pokémon, toward the closest circle of water by the entrance. I saw no steam coming out of it, and a cubchoo in it, so I knew it was safe.

I got all the mud off myself. I shook the leftover water from my fur. I headed back over to the hot springs, ready to leave this place with Petal.

_At least Petal is making an attempt to spend time with me on my birthday, _I thought bitterly.

I then silently scolded myself for such thoughts. How dare I start taking out my anger on my dearest friends, that's just sickening.I padded over to the hot springs, where I saw Petal relaxing with some other Pokémon. I stood by the hot springs for a few minutes, waiting for Petal to finish. Petal didn't seem to notice me till about five minutes of waiting has gone past.

"Oh, Shard, I didn't see you there," she informed. She slowly climbed out of the hot spring. "Okay, let's go Shard!" Petal exclaimed, and we walked away from Serperior Spa together, Petal's satchel around her neck again.

"So what's next Petal," I asked.

Petal seemed to look up into the sky. I looked up as well. The sky was a brilliant blue, with about no clouds in the sky. The sun was starting to descend, a small collage of warm colors mixed in the sky.

"Oh no, we got to hurry!" Petal screamed all of a sudden. I tilted my head, confused.

"What do you…?" I started, but Petal ran off and yelled,

"Hurry, there's no time to explain!" I shrugged, and dashed after her. I felt better with that spa treatment, so it was easier to run.

Petal ran ahead of me, looking back occasionally to see if I was following. I didn't know why Petal was doing this, but maybe it had something to do with the secret. I continued to run after her. Pine trees passed by quickly as we continued to run. This route seemed familiar, but I didn't know how. I knew I was on this route earlier today, but it was as if we were going back from where I came this morning.

I hoped it was about the secret, because it was killing me inside. I just didn't like where the day was heading, and since it was close to being over… I just didn't know anymore.

Petal seemed to stop in her tracks, beside a den. I nearly ran right into her, but I jumped to the side. "What now Petal, can you tell me why we're here, or will you just keep another secret from me?"

"Just close your eyes," she ordered.

"What, why-"

"Just do it and I promise that it'll make sense later!" she interrupted.

I moaned, but did as instructed. Petal seemed to lead me somewhere, but I couldn't tell where. I waited, as she told me where to go, then she ordered me to stop.

"Petal, can you just tell me-"

"Now… open your eyes," she demanded, and I heard some snickering in the background. I was confused, so I opened my eyes as told.

"SURPRISE!" Pokémon screamed. I saw Star, my zorua friend. Skylar the pidgeotto was also there. Lily, the polite minccino was here as well! Even Nascha the noctowl was in Star's den with us.

My jaw hung open. I was at a loss of words. I couldn't think of anything to say.

"I…I... what the…" I stammered, still stunned with shock.

"Happy birthday Shard!" Star yelled happily.

"Do you like your surprise party?" Skylar cawed.

"We spent so much time working on it!" Nascha exclaimed sleepily.

"Say something!" Lily said, giggling.

"What… you guys…" I said, holding back the urge to cry tears of joy.

"I'm sorry we had to keep this from you Shard," Petal started. "The whole secret was this surprise party, and if you knew, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now wouldn't it?"

I couldn't hold in my happiness anymore. "Thanks everyone!" I screamed. "This is just amazing, I was totally off-guard, and I definitely didn't expect this!" Everyone seemed to be happy. I couldn't believe even Nascha made it, despite the time of day it was, and with her nestlings left at home.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Nascha said. Everyone else gave some comments as well, and after a bit of chatting, Star yelled,

"Alright, let's get this party started!" Then she did a flip in the air to show how excited she was. Petal tried doing it too, but ended up with a face plant to the ground.

"Epic fail," Skylar commented. We all laughed.

In Star's den, everything was awesome. She had Sitrus Berry cake, made from a friend Star knew who was a miltank. The miltank had her own business, making deserts with some other Pokémon, and the place was a huge success since Pokémon haven't seen anything like it before. In the corner of the den, there were presents wrapped up in giant leaves. Star and the others even planned games like races and other things. We stopped the games once it got dark outside, and moved on to the cake. We nearly gobbled it down, but Lily said otherwise. Lily made the cake into slices, like what humans did, and then we ate them. I didn't want this forest to get any more humane, but Lily was making it difficult and same thing with all these human-like shops popping up all around the forest.

It was time to unwrap the presents. They were all wrapped up with leaves, and some sap was used to keep it together. Nascha brought one over. "This one's from me," she said. She used her talons to claw the leaf up for me, to reveal at least a dozen Sitrus berries.

"Thanks Nascha," I started. "I was almost out of Sitrus berries, and you remembered my favorite berry!"

"Who doesn't have that as a favorite berry," Skylar joked. I pushed the berries to the side.

Next, Skylar flew over and picked up another leaf-wrapped present. She dropped it in front of me. "You'll absolutely love this present," Skylar exclaimed. She used her talons just like Nascha to open the present. Skylar's present was a square sheet of cloth. It was a sky blue color.

"Uh, what is this exactly?" I asked.

"It's something that humans use. It's called a 'blanket'."

_Things are becoming too human in this forest, Kecleon shops and all the others were good enough,_ I thought. "It's great!" I exclaimed. "Looks like my rests are going to be better than ever!"

"There's nothing better than some beauty sleep," Lily mentioned.

Next, Petal went into the corner to get another one of those presents. She picked it up and carried it over, then dropped it in front of me. That time, I opened it myself, to reveal two big apples, and one perfect apple. "Aw… Petal, you shouldn't have," I commented. "I always wanted to try a perfect apple, where did you find this?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Petal replied. "Actually, that's for me to know and for you _not _to find out." Petal laughed, but no one else thought it was funny.

Star came over next with the present, dragging it clumsily across the den. It appeared to be really heavy. She ripped the leaves off before I could even touch it. The present was all of this Poké that glistered in the shallow light. There had to be at least a thousand or two Poké.

"Star, whoa," was all I was able to say. She smiled cutely.

"It was no problem Shard, and now you can go to some of those new shops at Forest Grotto!" Star screamed happily, knowing I loved her present.

"Me next," Lily said with her royal accent. She headed over to the corner of the den where all the presents used to be at, wrapped up in giant leaves. From where I sat, I didn't see anything in the corner. Lily bent over and picked up something small, wrapped up in crunchy, autumn leaves, instead of the big green leaves that recently have been growing back, but with no doubt, the packaging was prettier. It was a really small present though, in the shape of a disk.

Lily ran over to me excitingly. "Open it," she pleaded. I clumsily grabbed the disk-shaped present with my paws, and crunched the leaves, and after seconds, the present was revealed.

It was beautiful. It was a pretty necklace, a vibrant purple gem on the lace. The gem was a crystal, carved into the shape of a heart, shimmering in the low light. After I saw it, I immediately put it around my neck. "It's beautiful Lily, thank you so much!" I shouted. Lily was delighted that I loved the present.

Everyone came in closer to see the gleaming heart gem hanging around my neck. Everyone loved it, but not as much as I did. It matched my adorable purple eyes, and it was a wonderful gift. I've always seen some Pokémon around the forest wearing scarves or bows and stuff like that, and sometimes thought about having something like that myself.

"Lily, I absolutely love this present. It's so thoughtful," I mentioned once more.

"Lily, how did you even find it," Nascha asked, very interested.

"Well, I was walking through Forest Grotto, wondering what to get Shard for her birthday, when some poochyena holding a red scarf in his mouth knocked me over. I fell on the ground, and when I looked up, I saw the shop the poochyena was heading towards, and it was a place called 'Leavanny's Accessories'. I saw the necklace immediately, and I knew I just _had _to get it for you," Lily explained.

"This is very kind. Thank you so much for the presents everyone!"

The party ended with truth or dare. It ended up with Star going outside yelling, "I'm Italian and I'm proud!" from a dare, and Lily admitting that she still had a designer dress kept from when she was still with her owner. Other stuff happened during the game, but it wasn't that interesting. When the party ended, Nascha offered to help me take the presents over to my den, and I answered yes, since I had so much stuff. We gathered all the food gifts and the Poké and put it on the blanket, and Nascha picked it up into the air, and using the blanket to hold the gifts, flew in the direction of my den. I decided to wear the necklace home; since I was paranoid it could've fallen off the blanket.

Nascha went ahead without me. I stayed behind, saying bye to everyone else as they walked sleepily back to their homes. After everyone but Star was gone, I said farewell to Star, and left her trashed den, thinking if I should have stayed and helped.

I dashed toward the winter part of Sugarcane, the purple gem swinging around on the necklace. I could already see the outline of snow in the distance. I checked down and looked at the beautiful necklace. It was so beautiful, and Lily really did have good taste.

_**BAM!**_

I gasped as I get hurtled into by some Pokémon. I lost balance, and got thrown over in the grass. I struggled to get up, and gasped again when I saw who ran into me.

**Author's Note: Cliffhanger! I bet you guys can guess who Thunder and Shard ran into already… right? Oh well, I tried my best getting this chapter up, but I had several plans over the weekend… but here it is! I'll try getting the next chapter up. I decided to stop telling the summary in the author notes, since you guys already read the story, so you don't really need a summary of it. If you guys want me to continue doing the summary at the end, or instead want me to start doing that at the beginning of the chapter, please comment in a review or private message!**


	5. The Stranger

**Thunder: Someone, please answer my question about who owns Pokémon!**

** Shard: No.**

** Me: No.**

** Thunder: Fine, I give up.**

** Shard: Finally…**

** Me: Sheesh, you're persistent.**

** Thunder: I don't care. I'm just glad after four chapters, Shard and I meet.**

** Me: Thanks to everyone who followed on! On to the story!**

** Shard: Shadow doesn't own Pokémon!**

** Thunder: *groans***

**Shard's POV**

My side throbbed from the Pokémon's spikey fur that rammed into me. I saw the figure that I've ran into, and it was a jolteon, except this one had really spikey fur, sharper than usual jolteons. He was lopsided in the grass, covered in a bit of snow. The impact seemed to knock him across the grass. I blinked a bunch of times, wondering if this was a hallucination from being so tired, but it wasn't. He didn't get up for a minute, but I could see he was still breathing. I couldn't tell if he was unconscious or not, so I edged closer to him, very shyly. He seemed bruised up a lot, but it wasn't from the impact.

I hesitated next to him, wondering what I should have done next. I tried to ignore my shy nature, and leaned in close. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily. His fur seemed wilder up close. I couldn't really see his face, since his paws covered his head when he fell. I nervously moved his limp paws off his face, trying to tell if he was unconscious. He most likely wasn't unconscious, but something seemed to push me to find out. I used my light blue paws and pushed his head a bit. While my paw was still under his head, I looked shyly at his face. He wasn't passed out, I could tell, but it seemed like all these bruises were taking a toll on him. He had some sand in his fur. I stared at his face a while longer.

_He's cute, _I thought. I then smiled.

I scolded myself at my thought. What was I thinking? This was a stranger I was talking about! At a time like this, was I starting to go crazy?

No, it was just one little, dumb thought, why was I making a big deal about it? I started ignoring the thought, still inspecting this jolteon.

His fur was flowing with electricity. His pelt was very wild with this electricity. Maybe that was the reason why his fur was so wild, maybe it was hard for him to control the volts. I ignored the thought. It was weird how he had a bit of sand in his fur, with a bit of snow as well. I pushed that thought aside as well.

Some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about how he was so cute.

Why was that thought lingering in my mind? I tried putting it aside, but I just couldn't.

That's when his eyes opened, a radiant but odd blue. _Even cuter, _I couldn't help but think. He seemed a bit shocked.

I felt immediately embarrassed. I moved my paw from under his head, and backed a few feet away, my head down. I waited a few seconds, before he talked.

"Uh… I'm sorry I ran into you," he apologized. When he talked, I started to blush.

What was going on with me? I wasn't thinking straight.

My voice sounded squeaky. "I-It's okay. It was m-my fault." I still didn't look up.

"It's okay, I'll take the blame," he protested.

"O-Okay," I stammered, my mind spinning. My tail started to quiver a bit, nervously.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I was startled by his question. I looked up rashly, not thinking. I saw he was standing up now.

I hadn't realized I was still blushing.

"I-I'm fine!" I yelled by accident, acting defensive. I couldn't help myself, with my shyness. I started running, toward the snow not that far ahead. I couldn't control my legs as I sprinted away, fearfully. I turned around to face him, and he seemed confused, tilting his head. He seemed to be okay, even with the bruises. I still couldn't think straight. I turned back to stare ahead, and continued to run. My necklace dangled loosely around my neck as I ran. I reached the snow soon enough, sending a bit of the fluffy snow into the air in my path. Soon I was deep enough to see the piles of snow that I usually jump through.

Everything seemed to be a blur, but I didn't know why. My mind was dazed, and I just couldn't get any control. I heard a voice, but it seemed remote and hazed, and I couldn't make it out of who was talking. I finally arrived at my den, panting like crazy. That's when I started to recall what just happened. Why… why could I never get control of my shyness when I needed it most? I really wanted to get to know that jolteon, or at least find out his name. I cursed at myself for running.

I then remembered the voice that seemed hazed as I ran. Was it the jolteon, was he following me? Part of me wanted the answer to be no, but then I really hoped it was yes.

"Hey, Shard!" I heard the voice yell. There was no mistake about it, but it was Nascha. I felt relieved but sad at the same time. She swooped down quickly and landed gracefully in my den.

"What the heck happened to you Shard? I finished dropping off your gifts, and then I fly around, looking for you so I could confirm. I see you running fast and crazily, and I call out your name, and you didn't respond!" she explained. "You seemed very scared."

"I-I-It's just…" I didn't know how to continue. I would reveal this jolteon to my close friends at some point, but Nascha wasn't really a best friend. I usually never saw her, and we never really hanged out. I even remember telling her a secret, but soon it wasn't a secret anymore about how I've found a secret Sitrus berry bush, and everyone went over and picked every single berry off the shrub.

"It was j-just that… I… I saw a… a… I saw a beedril." I lied. "I know when you see a b-beedril, trouble s-soon will come, and so I ran and r-ran as fast as I could." I didn't like lying, especially to Nascha, since she could sometimes tell when I was lying, and I felt really guilty afterwards. Hopefully, she would think the stammering was because I was panting and that I was also scared.

"Oh, okay then. See you later Shard, and happy birthday." She then flapped her wings, and flew out into the snowy night.

I felt tired and just wanted to sleep. Only two thoughts coursed through my head, going to sleep and the jolteon. I quickly shoved all the presents in the very back of the cave so no one would see it from outside, and took the blanket. I placed it on top of my straw bed, and climbed onto it wearily. The gifts would be handled with tomorrow. I didn't even bother taking off the necklace. I settled down on the blanket, and quickly fell into a deep slumber.

_ I was back in that weird forest. I was confused immediately, but then I recalled the words of the umbreon from last night. I continued to walk on a trail, as he instructed, and then suddenly everything flashed up with light. The light went away after a few seconds, and I saw a gorge ahead of me, the forest behind me. What was that flash of light? I just wanted to get back to Sugarcane and back to my den already. I didn't want to be here, in this strange, unfamiliar place. Before I could take so much as a step, I saw a blur of yellow, running toward the edge of the gorge. I jumped back in surprise, nearly tripping and falling down into the river raging below. Time then seemed to freeze. I was severely confused. Even more confusing, I saw that jolteon. He had the radiant blue, eyes, and the wild pelt. What was going on here? I wanted to get back to Sugarcane badly!_

_ The jolteon jumped over the wide gorge. I felt like I was going crazy at the moment. Then I thought about the jolteon. I could see every detail of him, every shred of fur and every shade of blue in his eyes. I blushed slightly, shuffling my paws. I didn't even bother scolding myself at the thought of him. He made a rough landing on the other side, and he got up, electricity rocketing through the air in happiness. He looked funny like that, and it even made me give a small, girly giggle. He didn't seem to notice me. Then, another flash of light blinded my vision._

I jumped out of bed, falling on my side on the cold cave floor. Surprised, I rubbed my sore eyes, and slowly got up. I rubbed my now bruised shoulder. It was still dark outside, a sliver of a moon out in the starry sky. The dream snapped back to me, and I was confused, startled, and… and love-struck.

That stranger, he was always in the corners of my mind every second since I saw his face. Why was I like this? Was I finally losing it? Of course not, it had to be something else, and I knew exactly what it was. I fell in love with that jolteon at first sight.

_Love at first sight…_ I thought.

It felt nice just to think about him, and not scold myself about it.

At that moment, I knew I had a crush on that jolteon.

Then I remembered about that strange dream. Everything seemed distorted and fuzzy, but the jolteon image was crystal clear. The dream was messed up and confusing, and I had no idea what could have caused the dream. I shrugged at the thought, and climbed onto the blanket that covered my straw bed. Skylar was right about this blanket being comfortable. I didn't feel like going back to sleep, because I could've just had another strange dream, but I shrugged the feeling off. I lowered my head and closed my eyes, then struggled in bed as I tried to fall asleep.

The next morning, I woke up on the brink of sunrise. The sliver of the moon was still visible in the sky, but looked transparent with some foggy clouds hovering over it. I got off the fluffy blanket, stretching my limbs. They felt sore, most likely from how much running around I did yesterday.

I recalled the misunderstanding for the first part of the day, then I ran over to a spa with Petal, and then we headed over to Star's den for the surprise party. We'd done so many crazy games and I got some pretty sweet presents. Then I met that stranger…

I shrugged the thought away. I wasn't going to allow myself to think about the jolteon every second of the day. Today, I agreed to head over to Forest Grotto with Star, Lily, Petal, and Skylar. I slowly climbed off the straw bed. I then remembered the presents I shoved in the back of the den last night. I even remembered that I didn't take my necklace off last night.

I put as much berries as I could fit into the small rock I had used to store my berries. Then I placed the leftover food behind the rock, so if you were outside the den, you couldn't see it unless you came inside. I left the Poké in the shadows in the back of the den so that no one could see it.

I looked outside again. The sun was almost fully above the mountains. It was a good time to head over and meet at Lily's tree. I made sure the Purple Heart gem was still around my neck, and then I dashed outside.

**Thunder's POV**

I remained lopsided in the grass. I felt like those bruises were coming back on me. My legs started to feel sore, and my thigh kind of hurt, but not that much. I closed my eyes, and just rested in the grass. I had no clue that the bruises would hurt from being tackled like that.

I heard the crunching sound of the spring grass, from someone's paw steps. The sound was slow, and not that loud, indicating that the Pokémon was coming over carefully. I ignored it, not really caring. After a while, someone slipped their paw under my head, and lifted my head off the ground. I was alarmed, but somehow I wasn't worried. Actually, the paw felt… soothing, and I didn't open my eyes yet. I waited a while, and after a minute or two, I opened my eyes.

I saw a glaceon. She had abnormal purple eyes, and a matching crystal heart necklace. Her fur seemed to shine in the remaining sunlight, and the small amount of starlight. I was surprised, expecting some bigger Pokémon to knock me clear across the grass like that. Maybe I was still weak from my journey here from Maplewood. When she noticed that I opened my eyes, she made a small, cute little gasp and backed away a few feet, her head down. I slowly stood up, my legs not as sore as I thought. They were just minor injuries, and maybe I was just tired.

This glaceon seemed shy. She didn't look up, and she pawed at the ground nervously. Huh, she looked kind of cute; did she go to that spa in the forest that I heard about earlier? I should've at least apologized, since she most likely wasn't going to speak up.

"Uh… I'm sorry I ran into you," I apologized, kind of awkwardly. She didn't respond for a moment.

"I-It's okay. It was m-my fault," she replied. Her voice was squeaky and a bit whisper-like. She still didn't look up. I wondered if she knew I was on my paws yet.

"It's okay, I'll take the blame," I told quickly, hoping to start a conversation.

"O-Okay," she answered nervously. Her tail seemed to quiver nervously.

"Are you okay?" I asked, a bit worried. She looked up, her expression startled. She must have been nervous or insecure about talking to herself or something like that. Surprisingly, I saw her blushing. Weird…

"I-I'm fine!" she yelled, almost defensively. She looked like she was embarrassed, her cheeks a bright pink. Then, without warning, she ran past me, toward the snow area. I blinked, surprised. She ran pretty fast for a girl, that adorable heart necklace dangling around her neck. I kept watching for a minute, tilting my head in confusion. I saw her turn her head around to face me while she was still running. I couldn't see her expression from where I stood.

When she ran into the snowy terrain, she seemed to camouflage with the surroundings. She seemed to disappear in the snowy world, out of sight. I sighed now that she was gone. If she wasn't so shy, I bet I could've found out her name at least. I wished I had run after her, but maybe that would just freak her out even more. I pawed the ground, seeing if she would run back, but after a few minutes, there was no trace. I sighed, and decided since stars were aligning the sky, I should've head back to my den. Hopefully, I could hang out again with Fang, Falcon, and Hunter. Did they know where my den was at yet? Oh well, maybe Falcon saw me the first night I was here.

I padded through the grass, through the forest, and I seemed to wander up to it after a while. It was already easy to find my den. Tomorrow, I will most likely head over to the Forest Grotto I kept hearing about. I would maybe borrow some Poké and buy some stuff for my den. I collapsed onto the cave floor, and fell asleep quickly.

_I was in Sugarcane forest. I was by a den, with an espeon, an umbreon, and an eevee. The eevee ran around inside the den, full of energy._

_ "Pweeease can I go outside!" the eevee whined. The espeon and umbreon seemed very annoyed, covering their ears with their paws._

_ "Fine!" the espeon yelled, almost growled. The eevee didn't really see the tone of anger in her voice._

_ "Yay!" the eevee cried out happily, and she skipped outside._

_ "Just stay close!" the umbreon yelled after her, but she didn't seem to hear. The eevee didn't seem to notice as it ran right past me, running to a nearby flower field._

_ "Hey!" I yelled after the eevee. "Didn't you hear your parents?"_

_ She didn't really seem to notice me or my yelling. It was like I wasn't there. It was like I was watching a flashback, or a replay of a memory…_

_ I ran after the eevee. She skipped into the meadow of flowers carefree. She rolled around in the flowers, laughing to herself. I watched for a minute, when I saw something, in the background of the trees. It was a shadowy movement, swiftly moving from behind the trees. It watched the eevee, as if it was stalking or spying on it. I then heard a crunch of grass, to my left. I quickly looked over at the source of the noise._

_ Another one of those shadowy figures were trampling through some other trees. I was able to see it clearer, and it resembled a dog, or lion type Pokémon. There was more than one of them, at least three or four, like a pack or clan._

_ That's when one jumped out of its hiding spot, and the others followed. The eevee was surprised at the sudden surprise. I saw the flash of fangs and the shimmer of claws, the eevee just barely able to dodge one of the creatures._

_ She ran back toward her den, running with all her life in it. The creatures close behind, about double the Eevee's speed._

I suddenly woke up in bed, the dream still lingering in my mind. My head felt hazy, and my muscles a bit sore. The sun was half-way up the mountains. I yawned, getting up slowly and stretching my limbs. What a weird dream, and what a wacky imagination I had.

I got off the cave floor, my body aching. I really had to get some stuff, and some Poké…

I had just remembered something very useful.

I ran into the back of the den, and saw the little leaf bag I had brought all the way over from Maplewood. I quickly ripped it open, revealing half of it full with berries, and the other half contained Poké. I exactly had 1000 Poké with me. It looked like I didn't need to borrow any Poké from my friends anymore. I was about to take it with me, when I realized something.

_My red scarf!_

I usually kept some Poké in my scarf, since it reminded me like a fluffy Eevee's mane. I usually couldn't keep more than 3 or 4 hundred Poké in it at a time, but I wasn't some sort of big shot anyway. Fang never returned the scarf, and I really needed it back. There was no other way to take the money with me.

Then as if Arceus was reading my thoughts, I saw Falcon hovering in the pinkish sky, his wings wide apart. I ran out of the den excitingly, and called his name.

"Falcon! Over here!" I screamed out. He seemed to hear me immediately, and he descended quickly with a burst of speed, and at the last second, adjusting his wings so he didn't go beak-first into the ground, flew up a bit, his speed drastically lowering, and he finally landed gracefully.

"Flashy entrance," I admitted. He didn't respond, except for scratching at the ground with his talons.

"So Falcon, as you know, I'm a newcomer to Sugarcane here. So, I don't really know where anything is, except for Cedar Square and Salty Gulf." Falcon looked up, as if he had just now acknowledged my presence.

"I need to be shown around the forest Falcon, alright? Also for the love of Sitrus berries get my scarf back," I said bitterly.

"I actually think Pecha and Oran berries are better," Falcon stated. "Everyone loves sweet tastes, and Oran berries are more common, and therefore more popular."

"That's not the point!" I yelled, losing my patience.

"It was one of the points," he countered cleverly. I grinded my sharp teeth together angrily, now really annoyed.

"Let's just go find Hunter and Fang, and head over to Forest Grotle, I mean Grotto, I mean whatever!" I screamed. Falcon snickered a bit, his dark feathered wings picking himself off the ground. He lifted calmly into the air.

"Follow me," he squawked, hovering in the air. He dove into the group of trees, his speed increasing rapidly. Thinking quickly, I used quick attack in order to keep up with his speed, trees speeding past me as I dashed. I looked overhead, Falcon trying to stay low to the ground so I could him. He didn't seem to slow down, keeping up the amazing speed. He barrel-rolled to the left in the air to avoid a gigantic tree trunk, and I quickly looked in front of me, to see that same tree trunk. I jumped to the left quickly, dashing onto the side of the tree, and sped off it clumsily. I lost some speed, but quickly caught up with Falcon.

After a few minutes, the same rush of adrenaline still flowing through me, Falcon flew up; doing a small loop in the air, then sped down toward the ground. He did that same impressive move he did back at my den, quickly going from a drastic drop to a tranquil landing. I realized why he stopped, and dug my claws into the ground, nearly tripping into the den wall. I fell forward, my muzzle inches away from touching the side of the den. Falcon started snickering again, covering his beak with his dusk-colored wing.

"Not funny," I mumbled, and climbed back onto my paws. This had to be Fang's den, I thought. I moved over to the entrance of the small cave, to see Fang and Hunter. I blinked twice, surprised.

"Why did the Pachirisu chase the Pokémon trainers?" Fang started.

"Please stop with the cheesy jokes," Hunter begged, covering his mouse-like ears with his brown paws. "Is this sleepover done yet?"

"Because it thought they were nuts!" Fang cracked, ignoring Hunter's question.

"That joke wasn't that corny," I interrupted. Fang and Hunter looked over at me.

"Thunder!" they yelled out together. Fang sounded happy while Hunter seemed more surprised.

"Nice to see you guys again," I remarked. That's when they both had joyful expressions.

"Awesome Thunder, glad we got to meet up again!" Fang barked happily.

Hunter grabbed onto Fang's charcoal-colored muzzle, silencing him. "Your too happy today Fang," he mumbled bitterly.

Falcon laughed. "Don't forget about me over here!" he chirped.

"Oh yeah, 'Silent Falcon'," Hunter teased. We joked around a while longer, before Fang spoke up.

"Hey Thunder, I got your scarf!" he mentioned.

"Really?" I asked, now alert.

"Yeah, it's in the back of the den, let me get it." He ran a few yards deeper into the cave, his dark pelt camouflaging into the background. Hunter blabbed on about some time when he was cornered at a cliff, and somehow got away. Fang then ran back to me, the scarf in his jaws. It looked just like new… without Fang's slobber all over it. He dropped it on the cave floor, the scarf looking more stylish than ever.

"Wow, it looks just like new!" I exclaimed loudly.

"Well aren't you going to put it on or what?" Fang asked.

"Not with that drool on it." We all laughed.

Less than an hour later, we started the tour of the forest. First, they showed me the surroundings of Fang's den, and some landmarks to help classify. Next we headed over to Hunter's tree, which was one of those normal-looking trees with the fat trunks and leafy tops, except Hunter smeared the trunk with Oran berries, so it would be easier to find it. Falcon's tree was in the small part of the forest when all the trees are evergreen, and every bird Pokémon seemed to share the room in the big leafy space. I was shown a few landmarks near each of their homes, so I can easily find them. We spent all morning working on this, than I showed them around my den, and figured out some landmarks, which was a group of three tree stumps, and a pile of rocks nearby. While at my den, I stored some Poké in my scarf, about 200.

My scarf felt heavier than usual with the Poké, but I could live with it. We all decided to head over to Forest Grotto, and they would show me around there. Hunter mentioned about Leavanny's Accessories, where I could by a variety of treasure bags. Fang said that he saw a treasure bag with a blue lightning bolt design on it. "Well what are we waiting for?" Fang exclaimed.

We ran north east, and ran past Cedar Square along the way. I went slower than usual, so none of the Poké would slip out of my red scarf. Some of it fell out every once and a while, and I struggled putting it back in. It was a bit frustrating, but I was excited to finally see Forest Grotto.

We've arrived at Forest Grotto. There was dirt road, full of lounging Pokémon. Varieties of shops lined the side of the road, few Pokémon at each shop. In the middle of the place were a huge round circle, and a cool fountain in the middle. A few fish Pokémon were lounging around in the fountain, mostly magikarp. Several Pokémon hanged out in the big circle area, talking a lot. I walked in, taking cautious steps. Two lillipup ran past us in a hurry.

"Wow, this place is amazing," I remarked, the dialog of the other Pokémon surprisingly soft. We walked along the dirt road, with me being the only one acting cautious. We walked past Leavanny's Accessories, Hunter explaining that we'd head over there in a minute.

We headed over to the fountain. Hunter leaned against the stone exterior of the fountain, Falcon chilled around as well, and Fang acted laid-back, clawing at the ground occasionally. I put my paws up on the stone ledge of the fountain, watching the magikarp and goldeen swimming around.

A magikarp popped to the surface of the shallow water. He had a serious expression on his face. "What are you lookin' at?" he demanded in a pirate accent. I raised an eyebrow.

"Don't give me that tone you pile of scales and bones," I countered, teeth clenched.

"I swear, when I evolve, I'll kill you all," he threatened, his fins flapping around crazily.

"From that fountain, I doubt you will," I argued. He made a disgusted face, and swam away. _Weird fish, _I thought. I stared at his red fish body as he swam away to the other side of the fountain with a goldeen.

Hunter and the others didn't seem to notice my confrontation with the magikarp. I ignored the crazy character, and let my eyes wander around the square. I saw Leavanny's Accessories, a berry shop with a sign stating 'Ivysaur's Berries', and a sort of shop named 'Ninetales café'. I gazed around the shop some more, when my eyes landed on something very peculiar.

I saw the cute shade of purple eyes, with the matching heart necklace. Her icy blue fur shining in the sunlight, and there was no mistake about it. By the Ninetales café was that glaceon, with a group of other Pokémon.

**Author's note: Hey everybody, new chapter of Thunder and Ice up! I was surprised that I got so much positive feedback from this story already, but I will definitely continue. The magikarp around the end was from an OC. I got this chapter up faster than normal, and I'll start working on the next one as soon as possible. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story! The next chapter is certainly going to be interesting.**


	6. Friends

**Shard: Hey everybody, welcome back to Thunder and Ice!**

**Thunder: Best story ever!**

** Me: Actually, that's only a matter of opinion.**

** Thunder: Are you saying you don't like the story?! *jaw drops***

** Me: OF COURSE NOT! I'm just saying that other people might not think this is the 'best story ever'. *Narrows eyes at Thunder***

** Shard: Let's prove Shadow wrong Thunder; let's make this the best story ever!**

** Thunder: Yeah! We'll show you Shadow!**

** Me: Ugh… let's just-**

** Shard: Have you ever heard of optimism or enthusiasm Shadow?**

** Me: LET'S JUST GET ON TO THE STORY! *growls***

** Thunder: Sheesh… Shadow doesn't own Pokémon…**

**Shard's POV**

With the thought of the jolteon finally out of my head for the moment, I lounged around Ninetales Café with my closest friends. Star, that optimistic zorua was the last coming out of the café, her snout covered in warm milk. Petal had crumbs on her snout and a bit on her leaf tail, but Lily's face was clean, her silver-like fur as shiny as ever. Skylar had some Oran berry juice on her wings. I even had a bit of Sitrus berry juice on my muzzle. We just waited outside, taking a small break before we continued our day together.

"Today was a blast!" Star exclaimed, her black tail wagging back and forth rapidly.

"I know," Petal agreed, wiping some crumbs from her muzzle with her brown paw. Petal was the only one who brought a treasure bag with her.

"Quite," Lily agreed as well in her usual royal accent.

"It was GREAT!" Skylar yelled, extending her tan wings overdramatically.

"It was pretty cool. We should come here more often," I suggested. I rubbed my muzzle, trying to get the small amount of juice off. When most of it was off, I started to look around for something else to do. Yesterday was great, and now today was just outstanding with my friends, and all the stuff we were-

I gasped. I felt sweaty immediately. I made a small, pitiful squeal by accident. It was him, that jolteon. With those blue eyes and the wild, wild fur, I could recognize him anywhere. This time, he had a cool looking scarf around his neck. _He is so cute, _I couldn't help but think. I nearly started to run away in shyness, but ended up only taking a step back. Also, he was looking right at me, and I mean _right _at me. I looked away, trying not to blush. I started to pull on my ears nervously.

"Shard, what's wrong? You did that weird squeal that you do when you're freaked out," Star asked, concerned. I looked over at everybody, all of them staring at me in confusion and worry.

"It… It is just… just-" I stammered.

"Shard's thinking of an excuse!" Skylar blurted out, fluttering her wings madly.

"Come on Shard, don't try and keep secrets from us," Lily demanded. Petal didn't say a word, probably thinking about how she couldn't reveal the 'secret' yesterday.

"Hurry up and spill the Reviver seeds!" Star yelled.

Before I could reply, I looked back at the jolteon, and he was walking this way. I nearly let out another one of those squeals, but managed to keep it in. Everyone else didn't seem to notice the jolteon yet, waiting for an answer.

"It's just… I'll tell you later, tomorrow, I promise," I decided under the pressure. I tried my best to act as if I didn't notice the jolteon either, but it was so hard to not look at him. It was just so much tension.

That's when I guessed Star saw the jolteon. "Hey gals," Star whispered. "A jolteon is coming this way, 5 o'clock." They all looked over in his direction, and I tried my best not to do the same. Everyone must have noticed him by now, but I tried my best to not act interested. We all stopped talking immediately.

I looked back at him, seeing he was almost here. When he had finally made it over to us, he stood a foot away from me. We made eye contact, his cute blue eyes gazing into mine. "Hi again," he greeted coolly, making it clear he was only talking to me. I tried not to look embarrassed, and not to blush. "You're the glaceon that I ran into yesterday, right? Well I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry again." I couldn't lose the stare, seeing how he looked so cute. I could have starred into his eyes all day, but… that would just be creepy.

"Hey guys, uh… let's go. I want to see that magikarp with the pirate accent in the fountain again. Shard will catch up with us later," Petal interrupted, thoughtfully. I broke eye contact to watch Petal escort Skylar, Star, and Lily toward the fountain while Petal tailed behind them.

I mouthed 'Thanks Petal' as Petal looked over her shoulder and she smiled, and then she hurried up to join the others, leaving us all alone.

Would being alone with this guy be such a great idea? Guess I'd find out.

"So… you're t-that jolteon I a-accidently ran into y-yesterday…" I tried to act as if I had some backbone, but I stuttered anyway.

"Yeah, and again, I'm really sorry about that," he apologized. "I'm Thunder." I tried to avoid making eye contact again.

"Oh! I'm Shard!" I told, almost too enthusiastically.

"Pretty name," he commented, when we made eye contact again by accident. I could feel myself blush, so I looked down so he couldn't see my face.

"You have a c-cool name yourself," I admitted, trying hard to stop all the blushing. I pawed at the ground nervously.

"So…" he seemed to think about what to say next. "Oh yeah, that's a unique necklace, it's pretty cute." I looked up, done with that blushing phase. About to reply to his comment, I noticed the glittering of a bunch of Poké in his scarf, just a glimpse of it. He must have had that because he didn't have his own treasure bag yet, since he had to be new to this forest. I shrugged the thought off.

"Oh yeah, I got it for my birthday. In fact, that was yesterday," I answered a little less shy.

"Oh, happy late birthday!" he joked amusingly. "I now feel even worse for bumping into you on your birthday." His voice was a bit raspy on the last sentence.

"It's okay, really. In fact, it's more like a gift than a burden," I admitted. I then regretted saying that, feeling embarrassed again. I couldn't help but blush, so I quickly looked down again. I started to paw at my ear nervously.

"So maybe we can hang out later," he asked coolly.

"Yeah," I responded shyly. "Oh yeah, where'd you get all that Poké?" I asked, looking up again, curious.

"Oh," he looked at his scarf. "Oh, I'm not a thief or anything, I'll tell you that!" he joked. "This is from when I left my hometown and came to live here in Sugarcane. I just don't have a treasure bag yet. I'm buying one today, actually." I knew it.

"So, I'll see you later," he responded quickly. I looked up as he waved his paw in a farewell. He then winked cutely, and dashed over to the fountain, where a poochyena, staraptor, and raichu were waiting for him. My cheeks were now a bright pink from the adorable wink. Thunder dashed after his friends, and then I watched silently as all of them went down the dirt road of Forest Grotto, soon out of sight.

I took a step toward my waiting friends by the fountain, feeling a bit sad now that Thunder was gone. He had an awesome name, sounded really cool. I felt lightheaded a bit, and woozy. Then I stepped on something, and nearly jumped back in surprise. I stared down at it instantly, seeing it was a few pieces of shining Poké. This couldn't be… no, it was! This was some of Thunder's Poké, it had to be. It even had a bit of his scent on him. I felt a little weird for knowing a bit of his scent already… oh never mind that, I had to get this back to him! I clumsily picked it up in my jaws. I started to sprint after him, thinking he would head over to Leavanny's Accessories to get the treasure bag.

That was when Petal stepped in my way, blocking my path. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked, demanding for an answer. The others were at the fountain, leaning over the edge, probably talking with the magikarp. I placed the Poké down and put my paw over it protectively so I could talk.

"We still are hanging out today Shard, you know that you can't just blow us off like that."

"But, he-" I tried to argue.

"Shard, I know you like this guy," Petal started, whispering now. "Well, you'll see him some other day, with the ongoing relationship you guys have."

I tried to argue back. "I… I don't like this guy!" I lied. "I b-barely know this guy! You… you should know me better than anyone else."

"Well, I am your best friend, and I do know you better than anyone else. I also happen to know you hesitate while you lie, and occasionally stutter," she argued back cleverly, still in a whisper.

"Fine, you got me, I like Thunder," I admitted.

"His names Thunder? Well that certainly sounds like a pretty cool name."

"Hey guys!" I heard Star's voice ring out. "Come over here! This fish is hysterical!" Petal and I both looked over at Skylar, Star, Lily, and some stranger Pokémon leaning over the edge of the fountain. Petal took Thunder's Poké and put it in her treasure bag, since I didn't have mine with me. Petal and I both walked over to the fountain, side by side, forgetting about the conversation. I put my forepaws on the edge of the fountain, starring at the frustrated magikarp.

"Curse you land folk!" he screamed with that pirate accent. "I'll evolve and you guys know it! You're dead when I'm about ten times the size of the largest Pokémon here!" Some of the stranger Pokémon laughed.

"How are you going to do that? You have no Pokémon to battle, except for your weak magikarp friends," Skylar mocked, snapping her beak close to his head. "You could be a nice snack," she taunted, before pulling back.

He gave an angry face. "You'll be first to go!" he threatened. He leapt out of the water, attempting to slap Skylar in the face with his tail fin. Skylar was too smart for the angry fish, and she swiftly smacked him in the air with her wing, with little effort. He flew in the air, bounced on the stone edge of the fountain, and he fell limply in the water.

"Ouch, that's got to hurt," some stranger Pokémon remarked.

"That's going to leave a mark," a different Pokémon commented. That's when the magikarp swam back up to the surface, wincing, his left side fin having trouble flapping around in the water.

"Hahaha, that didn't hurt," he lied with a fake laugh, trying to act tough.

"Come on you pile of bones, that's got to be a pain in the fin!" Star yelled optimistically. The magikarp gave a nervous laugh.

"Just leave me alone you pathetic excuses for Pokémon. Maybe I'll spare some of your lives when I'm EVOLVED." The magikarp flicked his tail fin angrily.

Some of the Pokémon from the small crowd laughed. "Come on Shard, let's bail," Skylar chirped as she jumped off of the edge of the fountain. "This is just stupid now."

I sighed; wanting to return the Poké that Thunder had dropped. Petal wouldn't let me though, since today we were going to do all sorts of fun stuff. We started to walk away from the small crowd surrounding the fountain.

"So Shard," Lily started. "Looks like you found your own special… Latios." I was surprised by Lily's question; I looked over at her, a wide grin on her face. Did she say what I thought she said? My cheeks became fifty shades of red and pink. Everyone in our group starred at me teasingly.

"Don't judge me…" I mumbled, trying to hide my face by looking away.

"You think we wouldn't figure it out? We were right there when Petal led us away to give you lovebirds some… alone time," Skylar teased.

"Yippee! Shard's found her first crush!" Star yelled in a whisper, keeping excitement within her.

"I don't want to talk about it, thank you very much," I yapped bitterly. "Especially in public."

"Come on Shard, aren't you feeling all happy inside?" Lily asked.

"…Yes," I answered simply, my voice a bit raspy.

"Then you must want to talk about it!" she exclaimed. We were walking towards Duskull bank, where Petal was going to get some change so we could head over to Ivysaur's Berries. It was pretty far from Leavanny's Accessories.

"Not now," I growled through clenched teeth.

"Fine, but you're going to want to talk to someone about it later," Lily stated.

"I'm not that kind of girl," I mumbled seriously. I thought about slapping Lily right there and then, but again, I'm not that kind of girl.

**Thunder's POV**

I ran away from Shard, heading back over to my friends for the rest of that tour. They were standing by a minccino, a leafeon, a zorua, and a pidgeotto, bending over the edge of the fountain. I quickly ran over to see what the commotion was, a small crowd gathering. I bended over the fountain edge to reveal that same magikarp from earlier.

"Leave me alone, you stupid Pokémon. You don't know this yet with your tiny brains, but magikarps are the kings of the Pokémon world!" he mumbled in that pirate accent.

"Not you again…" I snarled bitterly. "Come on guys; let's head over to Leavanny's Accessories already."

"Yeah, this guy is boring anyway," Hunter agreed.

"Who are you calling boring?!" the magikarp screamed.

"I think he's deaf now," Fang joked, wagging his tail back and forth.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for a friend," the zorua next to Fang agreed.

"Okay, come on guys," I ordered, walking away from the fountain, Falcon, Hunter, and Fang following close behind. I heard the pestering fish yell something, but with that accent, I couldn't clarify what he was saying. We walked along the dirt path, about a few meters away from the shop.

"Soooooo…" Fang dragged out. "I saw that you found your very special Latias, you lucky psyduck!" My eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Um, no," I answered simply.

"Oh, now I totally know you like her! Plus, you were being so nice to her!" he tormented.

"No, get a life," I countered. Hunter and Falcon snickered when I said that, muffling their laughs. Fang shouldn't eavesdrop on conversations.

Fang made a pouty face. "Hey… it's not my fault you have trouble expressing yourself."

"What does that even mean?" I asked, annoyed.

"Uh… nothing!" he shouted suspiciously, but I let it slide, since I was so frustrated already. Soon, we were standing in front of Leavanny's Accessories. The place was a big green tent, sewn out of those ginormous leaves you rarely find. The place looked small, but inside the place was a bunch of logs cut into the shape of bins, full of merchandise. A small, remarkably detailed wooden counter was in the back of the shop, where you most likely paid for merchandise. The whole counter was a light brown, while the top part of it was splashed on with a dark brown color, the counter as tall as Fang's height. Also, behind the counter was a leavanny, of course.

I noticed that no one else was inside the place besides the leavanny once we entered the shop. Half of the place appeared to be where all the merchandise was, while the rest of the place was basically extra space, or a wading area. The shop appeared small from the outside, but it was actually pretty roomy when you came in. I gazed around at the merchandise.

I saw the treasure bag with a blue lightning bolt on it immediately, on the very top of a bin. Immediately satisfied, I grabbed it lightly with my fangs and trotted over to the leavanny, and then threw it up on the counter.

"Hello, are you new to this forest?" the leavanny asked kindly.

"Actually, yes," I answered.

"The name's Butterscotch," she greeted. "Oh, I remember that scarf. Fang brought it in yesterday so I could fix it up." Fang gave a goofy grin.

"So is this it?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"That'll be… 200 Poké," she exclaimed. 200 Poké was all the money I had, exactly.

I took my scarf off by batting it with my paw, and I caught it with my jaws. I kept the ends of the scarf clenched tightly in my fangs, all the Poké inside it like the scarf was a hammock. I put my forepaws on the counter, and placed the scarf down gently so Butterscotch could inspect it.

Butterscotch moved all the Poké off the scarf, and moved it to the side so she could count the money. I waited a minute as she used her leaf hand to count it. Her eyes widened once she finished.

"Oh my, it seems like you don't have enough Poké," she admitted, surprised. My eyes grew wide in shock. I swore that I brought exactly 200 Poké with me. Did I drop some on the way in here? I looked around my paws, and there was nothing on the ground. My ears drooped, suddenly feeling a bit weary.

"Yeah, looks like you were only off by 10 Poké," she further explained. "I guess I'll let this slide though." I looked up at her from the last sentence. She'll just let it slide?

"Really?"

"Yeah, consider it a first-time customer discount," she restated coolly.

"Thanks Butterscotch," I thanked, grabbing my scarf off the counter as Hunter helped tie it around my neck, and I put the treasure bag over my shoulders.

"No problem, and what was your name again?" she asked.

"Thunder, the name's Thunder. It's been fun meeting you Butterscotch," I said quickly, and with a quick wave of the paw, we all walked out of the shop.

We headed back over to the fountain, in the big circle area. We stood a distance away from the fountain though, to avoid that magikarp.

"Wow Thunder, that treasure bag is sweet," Fang admired.

"I have one just like it, except the lightning bolt is red," Hunter responded. Falcon didn't say a word, except he had an impressed expression.

"This is so cool," I remarked.

"Yeah, maybe I'll get one, if it isn't bigger than me," Fang joked, half serious.

"Ready for the rest of the tour?" Hunter asked, his lightning bolt tail bobbing behind him anxiously.

"I was born ready," I answered overdramatically.

"Then come on," he ordered.

The guys showed me the Serperior Spa, which was a shop far from the Forest Grotto, close to a beach. There were mud pits and hot springs on the outside of the place, while inside were logs cut up into beds, with straw on top of them. I saw several serperior and servine working their tails off.

Then they showed me the beach, which was named Sugarsand Beach. They said there are several interesting places there, with Salty Gulf used as the ocean. The grains of sand felt soft in between my paws. From the entrance where I entered Sugarcane, the water seemed murky, while from this beach, the water appeared to glimmer and shine. Maybe the water was somehow polluted around the entrance, but the only question is how it could be like that. At the beach, several palm trees had chestnuts growing from them, and that was when we decided we needed a break. Hunter had to take the spiky shell off all of ours since he was the only one who could actually do it.

Next we headed over to a place in the forest called Orchard Hillside, which was basically a huge open meadow, a main hang out place for Pokémon. There was a group of apple trees in a corner of the place though, apples not growing yet this early in the year. The apple trees had some blooming white blossoms.

The group showed me the part of the woods where some snow was at, a section of Sugarcane called Frosty Hills. Shard is most likely living here, in some den. They said that it snowed for the last time till later in the year, when winter came around again. We lounged around in the snow, and I started to get used to it. The snow was very powdery and soft, and really cold. They even explained that the last bit of snow doesn't melt till the beginning of summer. Also, a rumor has been spread that there is an iceberg that hadn't melt for over a decade.

Next, I was shown a place for major battles. It was on a cliff with an ocean below it and the space was pretty wide. There was part of the area that was just dirt, obviously was where the battle took place. The field was surrounded by lots of grass, a brilliant shade of green. That was most likely where the Pokémon watched the battle. The place didn't have a name, but Hunter and the others just called it The Cliff.

The last place was at a waterfall which is called Silver Falls. The lake created at the bottom was called Silver Waters, after the waterfall. The water shined beautifully, which most likely was how it got its name. Several Pokémon liked to hang out at Silver Falls, and while we were there, we saw a faint rainbow, a beautiful sight. Fang's exact words for the scenery was, 'Doesn't it look romantic Thunder?' emphasizing on 'romantic', and I slapped him, hard.

The sun has barely set by the end of the tour. I quickly said thanks to the gang, and we agreed to meet up tomorrow to watch this Pokémon tournament, at The Cliff. It's supposed to be a double battle, Falcon and Hunter against a houndoom and a riolu. I didn't know what a riolu exactly was, but that made me want to go see it even more. We decided to just meet each other at The Cliff, when the sun was just rising.

While walking back to the den, I had a couple thoughts in my head. One was about the battle going on tomorrow. Another was how I lost that last ten Poké, but I bet I just dropped it. Another was that I should head over to Forest Grotto to buy stuff for my den. I regretted not bringing more money to get my own bed, and it looked like another night of sleeping on the cold cave floor… great. Last thought was about Shard. Maybe we would meet up again sometime this week, hopefully. She seemed like a great girl, unlike some of those girly girls that always worry about their looks and ask those really stupid questions like 'Does these berries contain any fat or calories?' or 'Does this make my butt look big?' Arceus, some of these women are just so annoying… but Shard wasn't.

I then wondered why Fang made a big deal about us being perfect for each other and all that stupid stuff. Why was he thinking about that stuff, even though we had just barely met? I was a bit confused, but… I knew we would be great friends. Fang was most likely wrong about the 'romance blossoming', which was one of Fang's statements.

Right?

That's when I fell asleep, exhausted finally back at my den.

**Author's Note: Hi again guys! This story had gotten a lot of positive reviews and stuff about that, so thanks! These places will be used all throughout the story, of course, and stuff will pop up from here to there. For example, tribes of Pokémon, someone's den, a new facility at Forest Grotto, and stuff like that. Well, thanks for all the support and taking your time to read this note. It's really reassuring because it would just suck if I wrote all of these at the end of stories for no reason. Maybe at some time I'll stop the author notes. Do you guys want me to keep putting these up? Meh, I'll decide as we get further down through the story. Have a nice day everyone :D**


	7. A Day Together

**Shard: Welcome back to Thunder and Ice!**

** Thunder: Best story ever… right everybody?**

** Me: Please stop talking about that stuff guys, or else they'll start hating this.**

** Thunder: You can't tell us what to do.**

**Shard: Shadow… please just gets on with the story.**

** Me: …**

** Thunder: Short much? Shadow doesn't own Pokémon.**

**Shard's POV**

**1 week later…**

I woke up, stretched for a sec, ate a few berries; put the heart necklace around my neck, and everything I usually did in a typical morning. I gazed outside, to see the snow, still powdery, but a bit slushy as well. It had been a few days into spring, several flowers blooming already. Outside was pretty warm, a very nice day. The dawn was very gorgeous.

It had been a whole week ever since I've seen Thunder. I've wanted to get the Poké he'd dropped at Forest Grotto back to him, but I haven't seen him since. The only stuff that happened during that week was some battle at that cliff, and some sort of fight in the middle of Orchard Hillside, which no one tried to stop until it got out of hand, with an apple tree catching on fire. Luckily, the fire was put out on the tree before it could've spread, but that apple tree was burned to the core, charred and ruined.

I walked out into the snow, partly slushy. Maybe Star would know where Thunder lived, since she was a very social-type Pokémon that loves making friends with everyone. I headed south toward her den instantly, running along the snow in beautiful Frosty hills. Snow changed to grass after a matter of minutes, the grass a dark shade of green.

I padded along the grass, toward Star's den. I passed by a few boulders which I used as landmarks for her den. Puffy clouds floated above and a small breeze circled around me as I ran. I got closer to the den, when…

_**BAM!**_

I was sent clear across the grass, face planting in the end. Surprised, I immediately got off the ground, spitting out some grass. Angry, I faced whoever had ran into me. When I saw who it was, I started to shiver fearfully, my paws glued to the spot, instant change in my emotions. The luxio rubbed his head from the impact, painfully. His black fur was matted and his claws razor sharp unlike other luxio, with piercing eyes. The luxio was with a shinx, another lion-like Pokémon, and it was actually a very cute kid. The shinx was checking to see if the luxio was okay.

The luxio starred at me with a grudging glare. "You?!" he snarled through clenched teeth. He quickly climbed onto all four paws. The shinx looked partly confused, but decided to copy his buddy and act scary.

"I-I…" I stuttered. This luxio was Ruby's, that devilish luxray's, brother. His name is Lobo, and he was just like Ruby, except he had a heart. I had no idea who the shinx was though, but probably a member of their clan.

"How dare you run into me!" he growled, digging his sharp claws into the earth.

"I… I… You… you ran I-into me!" I stammered, trying to seem tough, even though I knew they could see right through it.

He growled, already losing his temper. "I'll give you one, and I mean ONE second to get out of my sight or I'll tear you to shreds!" he screamed.

I then got paralyzed from his threat. I wanted to run, but… I just didn't know. His threat seemed to leave me stunned on the spot, shivering fearfully.

"That's IT!" he hollered, before he came charging quickly, his little sidekick shinx trying to imitate Lobo. I gasped, and only started to run when I heard the crackle of electricity. His lips were pulled back in a sickening snarl, yellow dagger-like teeth ready to sink into me. I quickly turned around, and made a run for it. I nearly tripped over my paws clumsily, but made a save, and kept running fearfully. Lobo made a deafening roar, and I started to sprint faster and faster. My necklace dangled loosely around my neck as I ran. I started to pant like crazy.

I dodged a few pine trees as I ran, but then I looked back, wondering if he was still chasing me. He was surprisingly really close, with the shinx struggling to keep up. When he saw I looked back, he growled menacingly, his fur charged with his electricity. I made one of those pitiful squeals, and looked forward and tried to run faster, but I couldn't run any faster. I nearly fell when dodging a tree, and I nearly messed up jumping over some rocks. It was only a matter of time before I slipped up.

My breathing was out-of-control, and I attempted to dodge another pine tree. It felt like we have been in this chase forever, my paws aching. When I tried to dodge a pine tree, I crossed my paws, and fell face forward into the tree. I fell limply to the ground, breathing hard, eyes closed. I knew they were close, so I quickly tried to get up, but I fell back down on the ground, exhausted. Opening my eyes, I saw Lobo, less than a yard away. The shinx was trailing behind, and it took him a minute to catch up with Lobo. Lobo didn't seem exhausted, but he was just breathing hard. His mouth curved into an evil smile, his yellow teeth giving off another level of cruelty. I made another, high-pitched, pitiful squeal.

"I've finally caught you… runt!" he screeched, edging closer. My back lay against the pine tree trunk, being too tired to run anymore. Legs trembling, I made another worthless squeal. No one would be out here in this middle of the forest this early in the morning. Breathing hard, I watched him torment me, creating suspense by holding back the attack.

"Won't you fight back you runt?!" he demanded, his electricity crackling in the air intimidatingly.

"Y-Y-You k-k-know why L-L-Lobo," I stammered frightened. He knew very well why I didn't attack, and he was now mocking me about it!

"Oh yeah, I forgotten," he said sarcastically, than gave out a devilish laugh. The shinx didn't seem to like doing what Lobo was doing, standing back.

The shinx stood in his spot, starting to look a little freaked out, while Lobo started to edge toward me, slowly, mockingly, frighteningly. I was frozen in the spot, bracing for the pain.

**Thunder's POV**

I woke up slowly on my new straw bed. I stretched a bit, got an Oran berry to eat from the berry pile I had, and wrapped my awesome red scarf around my neck. I was going to meet up with Falcon today at The Cliff so he could help me with a few fighting tactics. We decided to get up early and head over there before anyone else got there first. I quickly left the den, and ran toward The Cliff along the fresh spring grass.

After a few minutes of intense running, I saw a blue Pokémon running through the trees in the opposite direction of me, a couple meters away. I stopped instantly to check it out. I watched as a luxio and a shinx chased after some Pokémon, but I didn't see the other one clearly. They didn't seem to notice me.

Falcon could wait, so I decided to turn around and chase after them, secretly. I dashed forward with a quick attack, and caught up with the luxio in about ten or twenty seconds. I slowed down, hoping for them to not notice me. I saw the Pokémon being chased, and I was surprised. It was Shard, that glaceon I had met about a week ago. She was frightened and freaked out, while the luxio tailed behind in a hot pursuit. The luxio seemed very determined to sink his deadly looking fangs into Shard. I stayed on the sidelines out of sight for a few minutes, and then cut in when the time was right.

Shard had looked exhausted, and very scared. She could hardly evade some of the obstacles. She was going to slip up soon, I knew it. That was when she accidently crashed into a pine tree with a thud, falling limply to the ground. I gasped as she didn't get up, and when she tried, she fell back down. She was definitely exhausted from the chase. The luxio was pushing her limits, and I quickly skidded to a stop, and burrowed into some underbrush to stay hidden. I peered out, and saw them talking, the luxio looking devilish and Shard about to scream. Shard gave out two squeals, and I felt so bad for her. As the luxio started to edge toward her, I climbed out of the bush. I didn't care what Shard had done, but she needed help before that luxio ripped her limb from limb.

I jumped out of the bush and landed in attack position, Shard protected behind me and the luxio and shinx a few feet in front of me. I had a threatening snarl and made a deep, defensive growl. My fur immediately charges up with electricity. "Leave her alone," I growled protectively.

The luxio was very surprised by the sudden outburst. "When did little miss runt over there get a body guard?" he asked teasingly.

"Leave her alone," I repeated, my fur crackling with electricity, his fur lessening in volts.

"Stay out of this!" he ordered. I stood my ground, showing no sign of retreat or regret. I wasn't going to let Shard get a paw laid on her.

"Leave," I roared, ready to zap this Pokémon to ashes.

He looked pretty skeptical, definitely showing signs of retreating. "Fine," he snarled bitterly, before he ran off into the trees with his shinx friend. When I was sure he was gone, I stopped my wild electricity, got out of attack posture, turned around and checked on Shard. She looked so frightened, so freaked out, so… hurt. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she was shivering hard, her paws grabbing hard onto the spring grass.

"Shard, are you okay?" I asked, seriously worried. She opened her eyes slowly, and she had the most frightened look in her eyes. She seemed to calm down when she saw me, but still was looking scared. Her purple eyes were full of hold-backed tears. She looked as if she was going to burst out right then.

I wasn't wrong. She let the tears come running, unable to hold them back. She ran forward and rested her head on my shoulder, her warm tears sinking into my fur. She seemed to wrap her paws around me, like if I wasn't there, she would be tortured again. I put a paw on her back in support. She was so miserable, her tears soaking into my yellow pelt. She could take all the time she wanted, I didn't really mind.

"So… so scared," she mumbled miserably. I felt so sorry for her. After a few minutes, she pulled back, wiping her eyes with her blue paw.

"I'm… I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to do that, it's just that I was so scared, I just kind of lost it."

"It is okay, that seemed very frightening," I agreed sincerely. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah," she answered, calmer. We made eye contact, her eyes looking way calmer than a few minutes before. We held the gaze for a minute, passing no words. Her eyes seemed to shine in the dawn light, despite the tears. She seemed to calm down when we starred at each other. She broke the stare, turning away, and I saw her blushing, with a cute smile on her face. I tried to think of what to say next.

"Hey Shard, do you want to hang out today or something?" I asked. Falcon would understand. Plus, it would give us a good chance to hang out with each other, Shard and I.

She looked up, smiling. "Sure," she answered confidently. I smiled back.

"Come on," I said, making a slow jog toward Silver Falls, that waterfall I was showed last week. I looked behind, Shard happily racing after me. After we ran a while, Shard ran ahead of me in a burst of energy. A race… this was going to be fun.

I ran hard, quickly running side by side, but decided not to use all I had, since I definitely too fast for Shard. She sped in front of me, and I ran ahead of her. In the end, I slowed down, and let her win kindly. We arrived at the base of Silver Falls, at the lake called Silver Waters.

"That was exciting," Shard exclaimed, finally not shy around me anymore. There were few Pokémon here at the waterfall, just lounging around, minding their business.

"Hey Thunder," Shard exclaimed. "Follow me; I know how to get to the top of Silver Falls! It's a beautiful view." We both smiled.

"Then what are we waiting for!" I yelled happily. She ran to the right side of the waterfall, and I followed. We ran side by side as we went up a small hill, a huge pile of rocks, and walked beside a river.

"Do you know what this river is called?" Shard asked.

"Let me take a guess, Silver River?" I answered

"Yep!" she replied.

We walked a little bit by the river, toward the edge of the waterfall. The grass was wet and a really dark shade of green up here. When we were at the edge of the cliff, where all the water fell down, we stopped and took in the beauty.

The mountains far in the distance could be easily seen from here. The mountains were on some other island, with the sun barely above it. The sky by the sun was pink and yellow, a mix of warm colors for a beautiful sight. I could see Frosty Hills, Orchard Hillside, and Forest Grotto. I saw several Pokémon already at Forest Grotto and Orchard Hillside, but they looked so small from up here. The water gleamed below, as if stars were in the water, and the sound of the waterfall up here wasn't like the crashing sound below, but more rhythmic, and I know how weird that sounds. The pine trees had darker shades of pine needles on the top of the tree, which was pretty cool.

"Wow, it's beautiful," I remarked.

"I know, it's fantastic," Shard agreed.

While we stood there, I decided that we should talk a bit. "So Shard, why was that luxio and shinx chasing you?" I asked, still staring at the view.

She didn't answer for a minute, and then she started. "The luxio's name is Lobo, and that shinx must be a part of his clan. Lobo is my enemy's brother, who has a greedy grudge against me." I looked over at her, and she had a serious expression.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to," I said.

"A long time ago, I wandered into her clan, as an eevee kit," she continued, as if I wasn't there and she was talking to herself. "She was a shinx. We… we were great friends." She stammered a bit on the last sentence.

"I was looking for her, and then I walked up into her den, and called out her name. She wasn't home, but her brother, Lobo, was. He… he came up to me, and said hi. We started to hang out together for a while. One time… we, we came up to the top of the waterfall, at night. He… he… he tried to kiss me." I jaw dropped.

"But you guys were just kids, right?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah, but he always wanted to mature faster so he could grow stronger," she replied, her voice raspy. "Anyways, I backed off before he could, and he got really angry at me. He thought that I loved him, but I said no. He growled at me, now hating me, and then threatened to tell his sister. I honestly had no idea what would happen if he did that, so I called him bluff. He ran away into the forest, angrily. I headed home after that. The next day… she… they…" she stopped talking. We didn't talk for a while, and just watched the sun go up slightly.

"I'm sorry I asked," I apologized.

"It's okay, it's good to get it off my chest," she responded.

"Well," I decided to change the subject. "What's your favorite berry?"

"Sitrus berries," she answered.

"Really, mine too."

"Yeah, it seems like everyone likes Oran and Pecha berries because they're more common, and everyone likes sweet flavors."

"I know, few people actually like Sitrus better than Oran, it's weird."

"Now… what's your favorite color?" she asked.

"Blue," I answered.

"Mine too."

"I see why," she started. "Your blue eyes are a nice shade of blue, they're cute." I smiled at the compliment. I looked over at her, and she was looking down at the ground, blushing. I didn't get why she blushed yet.

"Thanks, you have pretty eyes too," I complimented. She seemed to blush even more. Maybe when she's complimented or something, she blushes. I looked back at the view, but not at the sun, since it was too bright to stare at now.

"Hey Thunder," Shard started. "Do you want to head over to Orchard Hillside?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Why not?" she replied cleverly. Oh well, that was good enough persuasiveness right there.

"Okay, let's go," I agreed. "Race you to the bottom!" I yelled, before I ran back by the river. I looked behind me to see her following. I dashed down the rocks, and down the hill, but I tripped running down on the hill, and started to roll down. I didn't stop rolling down till I reached the bottom, and was laughing the whole time. I tried to get up, but I leaned to one side and fell again, dizzy. I laughed again. I looked up to see Shard rolling down the hill as well. She ran into me and we both laughed. We both got up, smiling.

"Come on, let's go," I said, still partly laughing, and we started to run side by side the whole way there.

Several Pokémon were there already. Some Pokémon were checking out that charred tree from that fight a few days ago, while most were just talking. Shard said she'd go and get apples for both of us while I waited there. I agreed, and watched her as she ran toward the apple trees.

**Ruby's POV**

With my friend, Emolga, we decided to go get a few apples from Orchard Hillside. We walked into the opening of the place, several Pokémon coming over to greet me. It was great to popular. There were several compliments and a few snide remarks. I told Emolga to go get the apples since I was a bit busy. I answered a few questions, but when the Pokémon seemed to keep coming, I told everyone to get away. They did as I said, since no one talks back to me, since everyone knows I'm popular. I walked across the field, and sat down in the shade of a pine tree, waiting for Emolga to bring the apples. I relaxed, lying down on the fresh spring grass. I'm glad that the apples had grown in so fast, despite there were only blooming blossoms on the branches a week ago. This spring apparently was coming up faster than usual.

That's when my eyes rested on someone. It was a jolteon, with cute blue eyes and wild fur, with the cutest red scarf. This Pokémon had to be new to the forest, since I would've noticed him before. What a cute Pokémon, he looked so handsome. I purred at the thought of him. He was alone, so it was probably time to introduce myself.

I got up and dashed over to him, but when I got close, I tried to act cool and look cute. I purred cutely, to get his attention. He looked over at me, looking a bit confused. I walked over to him slowly.

"Hi, you must be new to the forest, since I haven't noticed you before," I purred. He seemed to be very confused.

"Uh… yeah, I am," he answered skeptically.

"I'm Ruby, the popular luxray of Sugarcane," I introduced. "Everyone thinks I'm pretty, popular, and strong."

"Um… okay?" he answered kind of awkwardly.

"And you are?" I asked.

"Oh… uh… I'm Thunder," he answered, looking over his shoulder nervously.

"We should hang out some time," I purred.

"Uh…"

"Look, just ask anyone where the luxray clan is, they'll know, everyone knows." I winked at him, before I went back to the shade of the pine tree. Way to play it smooth. I looked back at him, and he was still staring at me.

_He's mine, _I thought with a purr. That was when Emolga came back with the apples. I grabbed the big red apple.

"Thanks Emolga," I thanked.

"No problem Ruby," she answered, and then she glided down next to me, and started eating while she was lying against my side.

While I kept munching into the delicious apple, I kept thinking over and over, with a purr, _Thunder will be mine._

**Shard's POV**

With two apples, one in my mouth and one I carried clumsily in my left paw, I walked slowly back to Thunder. Today was a perfect day. I got to hang out with Thunder, we had great time together, I got rid of my nervousness around him, no more of me being lightheaded around him and no more awkwardness, and best of all, Ruby the luxray hasn't been here to ruin anything. I saw Thunder waiting in the same spot, on his back starring at the clouds. When I got closer, that's when he noticed me. He got up on his four paws again.

"Hi Shard," he greeted. "Thanks for getting me an apple." He quickly took the apple from my paw so I could walk normally again. I sat down next to him and we started to eat the apples, me smiling the whole time.

"Hey Shard, the craziest thing happened when you got the apples," Thunder brought up.

"Really, what is it?" I asked.

He took another bite of the apple and swallowed before he started. "A Pokémon came up to me, with some sort of cute act, wanting us to hang out and stuff, it was weird."

"Huh, really?" I replied. I wonder who he talked to.

"Yeah, I was actually pretty nervous. She said to ask anyone, and they would know where she lived. It was pretty strange, but she definitely wanted to get to know me."

"Huh," I wondered out loud. Could it have been Ruby, since she's popular? No, it couldn't be, there wasn't a motive… was there? I decided not to bring Ruby up.

"So Thunder, where do you want to go after we finish our apples?" I asked; glad that I could finally talk to him without stuttering.

"What about we stop by my place, I want to get my treasure bag so I could buy some stuff for us at Forest Grotto," he answered. I noticed that I was starting to blush, so I quickly looked away and took another bite out of my apple. I had to try and hide my crush on him better.

Thunder stood up. "Well I'm done," he stated. "What about you?"

"Almost," I responded, eating faster. After he waited for me for about a minute, I finished and stood up. "I'm ready."

"Okay, let's go, just follow me," he told, as we walked away from Orchard Hillside together. He started to head north, and after a while, we ended up at his den. I was glad I knew where his den was, since now I could come over when I wanted to hang out. Maybe we should stop by my den so I could give his Poké back.

"You can come inside if you want," he reassured. I smiled kindly. I followed him inside, gladly, and looked around his room. He had a small pile of berries in the back of the den, and a straw bed, and some Poké by the berry pile, but that was it. Maybe I could get one of those hollowed-out rocks so he could store his berries in it. Thunder went over to his straw bed, and grabbed a brown treasure bag with a blue lightning bolt on it.

"Cool treasure bag," I remarked.

"Thanks," he replied. We walked out of his den.

"Hey Shard," he started. "Want me to show you some landmarks so you can find my den easier?" I immediately blushed, and turned away.

"Of course," I responded, happily.

He showed me around the place. There was a group of three tree trunks, and a pile of rocks. The rocks had his scent on it, so that would help as well. "Thanks Thunder," I thanked. He smiled cutely, and then I looked away, afraid that I could start blushing again.

We then stopped by my den in Frosty Hills, and I gave back his Poké. He thanked me, than we accidently made eye contact, and stayed like that for a few seconds. We both broke the eye contact at the same time. I showed him all the landmarks by my den. First of all, he already knew it was in Frosty Hills, and then I showed him a tree that was struck by lightning during a storm, so it had a mark from where it accidently caught on fire. Another one was a small lake, really close. It was frozen at the moment.

We didn't head over to Forest Grotto yet. Thunder left his treasure bag in my den, and I took off my Purple Heart necklace and set it beside Thunder's treasure bag. We played in the snow, mostly jumping in powdery snow piles like they were leaf piles, laughing. I hid in a pile of powdery snow for a moment, and when Thunder was passing by, looking for me, I jumped out and pinned him down. We both laughed. We then made eye contact again, and we both smiled.

I had a sudden urge to kiss him right there, but I held back.

We didn't move from that position for a few seconds, holding the intense gaze, us both smiling the whole time. Then I got off him, starting to blush, and I burrowed my muzzle into the snowy ground amusingly. We both laughed.

That's when we headed over to Forest Grotto, my heart necklace back around my neck and Thunder's awesome treasure bag around his shoulders. We walked side by side, and I did it shyly, after having that urge to kiss him.

When we were there, the sun was halfway down the sky. My stomach growled, since I hadn't eaten since it was morning, and we played in the snow about a quarter of the day. Thunder said he'd buy us each something from Ninetales Café. We headed in, and we both at the same time ordered a Sitrus berry smoothie. We both laughed. The vulpix who took our order went off and told Ninetales in the kitchen. We both started to talk while waiting. We sat down at one of the wooden tables cut out of logs, so we sat down on the ground, on the same side of the table.

"So Thunder, when do you want to hang out again?" I asked.

"What about in three days?" he replied. I nodded in reply.

Ninetales Café was a building cut out of wood, so the place was rectangular. The outside was painted orange from some berry juice, and then they used some red berry to make a flame design on the outside. All the wooden tables were basically wooden blocks, painted with a red berry. Several vulpix took orders and were waiters, while Ninetales was the one who made the meals. The counter where you gave your orders was just like the design outside, except the fire design was blue.

"So Shard, how long have you've been living in Sugarcane?" Thunder asked.

"All of my life, so about sixteen years."

"Wow, that's certainly a long time."

"Where was your home town?" I asked.

"Maplewood. It takes a whole day to get there."

"I've heard of Maplewood, isn't that a sort of resort forest for vacation and stuff?"

"Yeah," he answered.

That was when a vulpix came by, holding the drinks in wooden bowls with two of his six tails. He placed it in front of us. Thunder grabbed some Poké from his treasure bag and gave the vulpix money for the drinks.

We drank down fast, and left the wooden bowls at the table. We walked out, enjoying our time together. It was sunset, about time to go home.

"Thunder, so I'll see you in three days?"

"Yeah, I'll come over to your place, and we'll have a day just like this one." I smiled when he said that.

"Great, because I would love to hang out with you again," I replied. When I realized I used the word 'love' in that sentence, I looked away so I wouldn't start to blush or make any eye contact.

"I'll come over early in the morning," he explained.

"Great, can't wait for it!" I exclaimed.

He then winked at me with a cute wave of the paw, and I just couldn't help but blush, but I waved back anyway. I hoped he didn't notice me blush.

I started to walk home, love struck. That had to be the greatest day of my life by far. The day may have started on the wrong start, but the rest of the day was enchanting. I couldn't wait till Thunder came over in about three days. I walked home, a bit exhausted, and curled up on the blanket that Skylar had given to me, slowly falling into a deep slumber, smiling.

**Author's Note: Hey guys, most romantic chapter of Thunder and Ice yet! I got this chapter up really fast, but the next chapter might be slow getting up. I can't wait to get some more romantic chapters up. Thanks for reading, Shadow Snivy out!**


	8. The Enemy

**Me: Welcome back everybody!**

** Thunder: Yeah, you guys just kept begging for more and more…**

** Shard: Yep!**

** Thunder: It was taking so long because Shadow has been waiting for more results, for that poll!**

** Me: Stop it, save the talk for later.**

** Shard: I agree with Thunder, and Shadow.**

** Me: *smiles***

** Thunder: *smiles***

** Shard: *smiles* Why are we smiling?**

** Me: I don't really know…**

** Thunder: Shadow doesn't own Pokémon, for the seventh or eighth time.**

**Thunder's POV**

_I was back in that dream, the one with the eevee and shadowy figures. It was at the flower field, with the eevee playing in it, before the lion or dog Pokémon jumped out. The eevee ran back to the den quickly. The figures chased after her persistently. One of the shadowy figures leapt at the eevee, but she ducked at the last second. She barely made it to the den._

_ "Mum! Dad! Help!" the eevee screamed at the espeon and umbreon. They looked up from eating some Pecha berries. I watched as three of the blurry figures crept into the den. The parents were alarmed when they saw the figures. They jumped into attack position, ready to defend their kit._

_ The eevee was in attack position too. Her fur was sticking up, making her look intimidating. "Let's get them Mum and Pa!" she screamed._

_ "Stay out of this sweetie!" the espeon ordered._

_ "But Mum-" she tried to argue._

_ "We don't want you hurt!" the umbreon yapped. The eevee then backed off, and watched her parents run toward the shadowy Pokémon._

_ I watched as the espeon used her psychic powers to lift one of the beasts off the ground, and then threw it against the cave wall, knocking it out cold. The umbreon used a dark pulse attack, sending nearby intruders skidding back._

_ The eevee watched, fear in her eyes. Then it transformed into a look of bravery and determination. Despite her parents' orders, she ran forward in a quick attack. She sped past her mum and father, disobeying their orders._

_ "No!"_

_ "Stop it sweetie, get back!"_

_ She didn't listen. She then had her tail glimmer in a silver glow, an iron tail attack. She spun around and rammed her metallic tail into a nearby intruder. The Pokémon growled in anger and frustration, and then volts of electricity struck out of the Pokémon. It looked like a strong Thunder attack, stronger when the surprise of the iron tail rammed into the Pokémon's side. It came out at a supersonic speed, and then shockingly hit the espeon. The espeon barely had a chance to scream out a cry of shock. The espeon's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fell limply to the ground, volts of electricity still coursing through her. I cried out my own gasp of shock._

_ The umbreon ran up to the espeon. "No… please, no…" he mumbled sadly._

_ That was when the eevee noticed it. "Mum!" she cried out. She ran up to the unmoving espeon. The umbreon had his paw on the espeon's wrist. His face seemed to go pale, and I knew what had happened._

_ That wasn't the right time to stand there and stare at the dead espeon. A different one of the assassin Pokémon sent another strong Thunder attack at the eevee. She gasped in shock, and then used iron tail to block it. I watched as the strong bolt of electricity reflected off the eevee's iron tail, and zapped the umbreon instead. I gasped another cry of shock. The eevee noticed that her father fell down to the ground, more electricity stunning the Pokémon in the spot. She ran up to her father, him barely still alive._

_ That's when one of the monsters dashed into the den, and sank its claws into the umbreon's chest. The eevee started to back off, stunned in the spot with fear. Tears welled up in her eyes. The monster than backed up, gave out a snicker of dread. The eevee gave a look of fear at them, her legs barely able to keep her up._

_ "Nice job lil' eevee, you just made our jobs that much more easier!" the Pokémon screeched, before all of the Pokémon retreated. The eevee stood in there alone, tears finally starting to come out. She ran up to her unmoving parents, blood staining her father's chest._

_ "Mum… Dad… wakes up," she pleaded, not wanting this to be a reality. When they didn't move, she repeated it again, her voice unsteady. Tears stained her cheeks, and she lied down beside her mother, the eevee sobbing terribly._

That was when my eyes snapped open, and I sprang up on my four paws. That had to be the worst nightmare Darkrai had ever given me. I slowly got up, stretching my limbs. That nightmare was just… wow. Oh well, I guess it was time to go hang out with the gang. I got my red scarf that I left next to my straw bed last night and wrapped it around my neck. Then I ate a few berries from my berry pile, most of it just Cheri berries. Then, I ran out into the day, the sun barely above the distant mountains. Dark clouds circled overhead, singling an upcoming storm, giving the day an impression of gloom. Seemed to match that dream I had.

I started to run through the forest, pine trees speeding past. A strong wind has been blowing through the forest; running toward where I remembered was Hunter's tree. That raichu sure could hold a grudge… or at least it seemed like he would.

I felt a slight drizzle start by the time I arrived at the base of the tree he had graffiti on. I shouted his name up into the tree hollow. He stuck his head out above, an expression of frustration on his face.

"Thunder, I was sleeping late! What do you want?" he demanded, his voice raspy.

"I… I thought we could hang out today or something, since we didn't yesterday," I replied.

"Are you crazy or what Thunder? I don't even care; I had to spend yesterday with my family anyways. Besides, it's raining! I'd suggest staying inside today, since it'll most likely blow over by tomorrow," he growled.

"Can you tell Falcon tomorrow that I'm sorry for not being able to make it?" I asked.

"Sure, will you be able to hang out tomorrow?" he asked. "We can go investigate that charred tree at Orchard Hillside together."

"Sorry, I got plans tomorrow."

"Really, what are they?" he asked. The rain started to increase.

"I was going to check out this place called the luxray clan or something. A luxray named Ruby seemed eager to hang out with me."

His eyes grew wide. "_Ruby_ wants to hang with you?!" he screamed, astonished. "She's one of the most gorgeous and popular Pokémon in the whole forest!" Ruby did mention that.

"I know. I just want to get this over with."

"Well hurry back to your den, the rain's getting worse!" he yelled, before ducking back into his hollow.

He had a point, so I started to head back in the opposite direction. The grass was very slippery on the way back, and when a huge gust of wind blew, I slipped. My fur was partly matted with rain. That was when I thought I saw a Pokémon from my left running. Some dog-like Pokémon or something. He was a bit ahead as well. I tried to stop, but I slid forward, the Pokémon dashing into my side, us both sliding across the forest floor.

I got up quickly, and saw the Pokémon I ran into. It was a blue Pokémon, with a yellow wild mane. He had thorn-sharp claws, and electricity coursed through the yellow parts of his fur. His eyes were a crimson red. He was already up, with a grudging glare.

"How dare you run into me," he screeched out, his blue tail thrashing behind him wildly.

"Hey, you rammed into me! Just who do you think you are anyways?!" I screamed back.

"Faolan, surprised you don't know me," he replied, his voice lowering.

I hesitated before answering. "I'm Thunder."

"Well… for Darkrai's sake, watch where you're going!" he yelled.

"…Don't you mean Arceus?" I asked.

"There is no such thing as Arceus. I worship Darkrai, you moron." My eyes grew wide in surprise. This guy was definitely bad news if he worshiped _Darkrai!_

"You're crazy," I growled.

"What do you expect; I'm a loner manectric for a reason." He gave a quick flash of a snarl, but went back to a frown.

"Get out of my face," I threatened.

"Make me," he pressured.

It's been a while since I had a good battle.

I charged at him with a Quick attack, hopefully catching him by surprise. Unfortunately, he used amazing speed and jumped over me, and I slipped into the trunk of a pine tree, the ground too slippery for me to stop. I couldn't use Quick attack anymore, at least not in this weather. I quickly recovered and turned around, Faolan with a smug look on his face. That just infuriated me even more.

Some storm clouds circled overhead in a swirl pattern, clearly Faolan's doing. His fur filled with electricity, and then he roared, loud. That was when a boom of Thunder sounded overhead, a streak of lightning storming down. It stuck the tree quickly, hitting me in the process.

A Thunder attack, clever, but not clever enough. I didn't even bother to move a muscle or attempt to dodge. Yeah, I did let the Thunder attack hit me.

The attack lasted mere seconds, but vanished as quickly as it came. Not a single shred of fur was tampered with, my own smug grin on my face.

Faolan starred at me in disbelief, baffled by the fact that I wasn't affected by the attack. "How did you…" His voice then trailed off.

"Thanks, now with my Volt Absorb ability, you just healed me." His confidence was then shadowed with one of anger. He then charged at me, his lips curled back in a snarl. His fangs then engulfed in flames for his Fire fang attack. He pounced, but I had already side-stepped to the left. He sunk his fangs into the tree trunk, and he was already struggling to get off. I took advantage of my opportunity. I charged up a Shadow ball in my mouth, the ball of black energy launched at him in a close-ranged attack. The impact sent him flying; him unstuck and with a burnt mark stained on the trunk. I skidded back from the attack as well. Smoke was leftover from the attack.

I then regretted using Shadow ball, since the smoke blocked my sight of him. I stared intently into the smoke, trying to see Faolan. I looked around frantically, feeling as if I was a rattata being stalked in the forest. I tried to not lose my cool, my fur now soaked with rain.

Then a sharp feeling of pain snapped into my right hind leg. I growled out in pain and frustration, my fur lighting up with sparks. I looked behind me instantly, to see Faolan using Bite into my leg, fiercely. He had a bruise where he was hit with my Shadow ball on his right side. I tried to shake him off but he stubbornly stood there with a deep growl. Angrily, I charged up a Shadow ball and launched it at him. When he saw that I was charging it, he didn't have enough time to let go and dodge, and he was sent rocketing across the ground, both of us. Another smoke cloud emerged.

My right hind leg burned heavily. I starred at it in disbelief, to reveal a bite wound. Some of my blood started to leak out, but the rain seemed to wash it away. My leg started to feel cold and numb. Blood stained my yellow pelt.

I struggled to get up, the smoke cloud disappearing quickly. Faolan had barely gotten on his legs just as I had. Faolan was already breathing heavily, clearly frustrated for not being able to attack with electric attacks. I charged up my favorite move, Thunder. The storm clouds that circled above made a deafening boom, and I roared heavily, sending lightning down at Faolan. He had to be finished after my signature attack, so I was getting ready to walk around and look for herbs to treat this bloody wound.

When I looked over my shoulder, I faced him again, seeing his unharmed body. He had an annoying smirk.

"Thanks for helping me with my Lightningrod ability," he growled. You could easily hear the sarcasm in his voice. I tried to recall what the ability did.

"It's not like you have any special attack moves that aren't electric," I argued. You could see he was frustrated still.

"Enough talk!" he screamed, most likely intimidated. He charged at me with his Fire fang attack again. I then recalled my Dig attack, and swiftly burrowed into the ground, my wounded leg holding my speed back. His attack missed by inches.

I dug harder into the crust, ignoring the throbbing pain, and waited. Have you ever wondered how we knew where our targets were while we were underground? Well, I waited, as quiet as I could. I then felt the vibration, of Faolan's footsteps above. The vibrations were weak, but I could detect where they came from as he walked around in most likely panic. I dug a bit more through the dirt, my right hind leg numbly following behind, and when I was sure I was right under him, I quickly dug up and tackled his stomach head on. He was sent flying high by my super effective move, and he landed with a thud yards away.

He got up, and I prepared to use another Shadow ball to show no weakness, before he called out with bitterness, "Fine, you win, and I'll finish when it isn't raining."

"Anytime, anywhere," I growled, noticing the onslaught of rain after he said that. He climbed numbly onto his four paws, and he started to dash away. I could notice a limp in his step.

That battle sure was intense, and I doubted that was the last time I saw him. Relived that it was over, that was when I noticed how exhausted I was. I was panting hard, and my wound was making my leg hard to move. I had a few bruises as well; my throat seemed hoarse since I breathed in some smoke. The rain also made my pelt cling to my body.

I decided to look for some big leaves to help patch this up, and then eat a few Oran berries back at my den. I started to limp toward my den; looking at every bush I went past. All the bushes seemed the same, with several tiny leaves. I had no idea what these bushes were called. When I noticed I was getting nearer to my den, I started to look around frantically. I only saw two kinds of bushes, ones with small leaves and ones with even tinier leaves. I sighed.

That was when I saw a several patches of leaves, on the ground between two pine trees. I saw a few patches of them, and they looked fuzzy. They weren't bushes, just patches on the ground, varying in size. I reached for one and yanked it out of the ground with my fangs. It had some sort of velvety texture to it. It would work for the wound, so I quickly bent down and yanked a few more out of the ground.

I then recalled this plant. One time I think my mom fetched these same leaves to patch of this wound I've gotten. It's supposed to be a wildflower called Velvetleaf Mallow… or at least I thought. I quickly struggled back to my den with the velvety leaves. It took a few extra minutes till I reached my den. I saw my straw ben from afar and eagerly limped back to my den.

When I got inside, I shook my fur wildly; a lot of the rainwater being shaked out of my pelt. I hated it when water clung to your fur, and it was just so annoying. I dropped the soaked leaves close to my straw bed, and edged to the back of my den. I then realized that my red scarf was drenched around my neck, and I struggled to get it off. I dropped it with a thud on the cave floor, and I decided to let it dry. I then continued to head into the back, and saw my berries and Poké. When I reached down to get an Oran berry, I saw something gleam in the corners of my eye.

I looked over to see two Sitrus berries, and a small group of Poké, a foot away from my stuff. That wasn't mine, so I got up and went over to investigate. When I moved a few steps closer, I saw an icicle next to the pile of stuff. It was like a memento of some sort or something. Then I realized it.

The icicle was there to show that Shard was who left the stuff.

I smiled at the thought of Shard. She was so caring and thoughtful and fun. I couldn't wait to hang out with her in a couple days. She couldn't have dropped these berries off at a better time. Maybe she stopped by with this today while I was out, or maybe some time yesterday when I wasn't looking. I'd thank her when we got to hang out again.

I wolfed down the Sitrus berries. I savored the taste, since these seemed to be really sweet. With a smile on my face, I headed back over to my straw bed. I used the Velvetleaf Mallow leaves and put them on my leg wound, while lying down on the straw bed.

After a long while of frustrating progress, I finally managed to wrap the leaves around my right hind leg. Tired, I laid my head down on the straw bed, and yawned. I couldn't tell with the storm clouds, but I thought it was dark. The rain seemed to be letting up at least, now only a slight drizzle once more. I slowly dozed off into the dream.

_I was standing at the top of Silver Falls. It was around sunset. The sky was a collage of warm colors. It was a beautiful sight, more beautiful than the one at dawn. The water below sparkled like the stars that were transparent in the sky. I then noticed that Shard was with me. She was smiling, her purple eyes gleaming in the sunset's light. Her light blue fur seemed to shine. I then noticed I started to blush, but I didn't know why. I looked away from her so she didn't see. I then felt her warm fur brush against mine, my ears pricking up in surprise. I looked back at her immediately, to see her leaning against me. My cheeks grew a deep pink, but I didn't know why. I couldn't stop myself from smiling._

_ I let her lean against me. She was smiling as well, her eyes closed in delight._

_ "Thunder, isn't the sunset beautiful?" she asked, her voice like an angels._

_ "Uh… I, I t-think it's b-beautiful, y-yeah," I stammered, some reason so nervous. We didn't exchange words for quite a while, just watching the colors of the sky change into a midnight blue. The stars shined deeply above. The lake below reflected the light below like a mirror in a wavy image._

_ "T-The view at, at night is e-even m-m-more beautiful," I mentioned._

_ "I know," she replied, and then she snuggled against me. I started to blush even more from that. Why was I blushing so much, and why was I stammering?_

_ Then what I said really surprised me. "Well… Shard, you seem prettier than all of this." I looked over at her, hopefully. She was staring at me in surprise, her purple eyes shining just like the heart necklace that dangled just around her neck. She did look beautiful, even more than the dusk and night sky._

_ She had a warm smile, and she blushed. She didn't turn around, but we made eye contact. Her eyes shined, so cutely. I knew I was blushing as well, but I didn't look away either._

_ I put my paw on the side of her head, smiling. I leaned closer and closer to her, not regretting what I was doing._

_ I leaned in and before she could object, I gave her a compassionate kiss. She didn't move away at all, and she exchanged the kiss. I didn't break the kiss till I had to breathe, loving the wonderful kiss._

_ Shard and I were both smiling deeply. Then she moved closer to me, deciding that she wanted another kiss. We gave another long kiss, till I broke it, having to breathe again. I nuzzled her cheek affectionately, and she nuzzled back, and then she added a lick. _

_ I had a wide smile, very happy. She continued to lean against me._

_ "Thunder, I… I love you," she whispered gently into my ear._

_ "I love you too, Shard," I replied._

I woke up with a startle. It was morning, the storm clouds definitely gone. The sun was completely above the mountains. The grass was covered in dewdrops.

That was an awkward dream. I wondered where that came from. Oh well, it was time to head over to Ruby's anyways. I checked on my wound, and I removed the leaf cast. I would be all right without it, since it seemed fine. I went to the back of the den and ate a few berries.

The only thought that went through my mind was the dream. The first kiss seemed to replay over and over in my mind. I had no idea why I was smiling while thinking that.

I then padded out of the den, my slightly soaked scarf around my neck. I'll just head over to Hunter's and ask where her clan is. I then dashed away from the den slowly, trying to keep from worsening the wound.

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry for not getting this up sooner and so many reviews wanted me to continue. Don't worry, I wasn't stopping the story or anything, it was just the poll, and I had all this stuff I had to work on. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon for you guys. Also, hoped you liked the battle scene with Thunder and Faolan. Plus, Thunder isn't aware that he's falling in love with Shard; he just thinks it's his wild imagination. Sorry for the wait again, and thanks for all who made it this far.**


	9. Ruby

** Me: Welcome back everyone!**

** Thunder: Yeah!**

** Shard: *grumbles* I don't like this chapter…**

** Thunder: It is okay Shard *pats her back***

** Me: Let's get on with the story!**

** Shard: If this came out a bit late, then it's because Shadow is lazy.**

** Me: -_-**

** Shard: *snickers***

** Thunder: …Shadow doesn't own Pokémon.**

**Thunder's POV**

Along the slick, wet grass, I ran towards Hunter's tree to ask him where Ruby's clan was, and started to wonder if I was doing the right thing. Maybe if I started hanging out with Ruby, she'd turn into one of those creepy stalker girls that freak you out. Also, what would we do together? Would it be just the same as when I was with Shard, or will it be mysterious or crazy? What if she thinks we're out on a date or something, and you know how awkward that would be?

When I arrived at the base of the tree, I hesitated. Would this be such a good idea, I thought. I had second thoughts once more, hesitating. How would this end?

I then decided to just man up and yell up the tree. "Hunter!" I screamed up the tree trunk. Almost immediately after, I saw Hunter's head pop out of the tree hollow, as if he was expecting me. He starred down at me, his mouse-like ears pricked up excitingly.

"Hey there buddy!" he called down. "Are you here to ask where Ruby's at?" He climbed down from his tree quickly, standing about a foot away from me in the grass.

"How do you know?" I asked. I pawed at the ground, a bit nervous.

"Well, you did say you would go over there today, and I doubted you knew where to go. I just assumed you'd come back, I guess," he answered solemnly.

"Great, so… where is it?"

"Just head north from here, and you should see a group of dens sooner or later. It's common to hear hisses in some mornings, since I heard they drive away several intruders that enter their territory." I gulped when he said that, wondering if they would mistake me for an enemy.

"What's it called again, Luxray territory?" I asked.

"Yep," he replied cheerfully. He was about to climb back up his tree.

"Okay, thanks for the help Hunter," I thanked.

"No problem buddy. Can you hang out again tomorrow?" he asked.

"No, I'm hanging out with Shard again." He then stopped still when I said that. He stood still in the grass, not climbing back up the tree.

"Oh, that glaceon fellow… is that why you couldn't hang out with Falcon the other day?" he teased.

"Yes," I simply answered, not getting where he was talking about.

A dim smile could be seen on his face. "Well… looks like Fang is right about you guys being Latios and Latias." He snickered after saying that. My ears stood on end.

My face was shaded a light pink. "No we're not!" I screamed at him, my tone like a toddlers.

He snickered once more. "Sure you're not. Don't you think hanging out with Shard and Ruby is a bad idea? I can totally tell Ruby has an interest in you by the way you described it."

"Shard and I are just friends, and I bet Ruby won't pull anything." I gritted my teeth in frustration.

"Fine bro, but Ruby sounds very determined to make you her, uh… never mind. Just head out on your date already, and have a fun time." My eyes flashed up with anger.

"It is not a date!" I growled, holding back my electricity.

"You don't have to sound so defensive Thunder, now see you later." Without another word or even a farewell, I dashed back into the trees.

**Ruby's POV**

The grass was covered in raindrops from yesterday's downpour, dampening the fur on my paws. The sun was barely over the mountains, shielded by some heavy rain clouds floating threateningly in the sky, possibly another storm tomorrow. I remained crouched in the tall grass of the nearby meadow, my piercing yellow eyes darting back and forth observing every movement within the grass. My tail thrashed wildly behind me with anticipation.

A single thread of movement was showed close in the spring grass. The movement was small but not unnoticeable. I stopped my thrashing tail and dropped to the ground, making no sudden sounds or movements. My eyes kept a still stare on the place where the rustling had occurred. After an awkward silence, a petite purple head popped out of the grass, the creature's round ears pricked up. A full grown rattata, it seemed like. His beady eyes looked around in the grass, looking for any nearby predators. I stayed low to the ground, my belly fur brushing against the dewy grass, soaking my pelt. The rattata looked around again, before it decided to relax.

I curled back my lips to reveal my fangs, and tensed my haunches, ready to spring. Stalking the prey, I watched the rattata start to clean the dewdrops off its short pelt. The wind was blowing downwind, hiding my scent. I unsheathed my claws, and waited to see when the creature had his back turned and its guard most let down. It took a slight movement, and faced away from me. I was ready to pounce and quickly slay the creature. That was when the wind shifted so suddenly, in a burst of energy filled with the scent of rain. My ears pricked up in surprise as the rattata already detected my scent, catching me off guard.

Quickly, I pounced, my paws extending toward the creature, a hiss slipping from my throat. The rattata tried to turn tail and run, but was too slow to get out of my way. I sank my claws into the creature, caking my claws in blood. I withdrew my claws and sheathed them once more, uncurling my lips to hide my yellow fangs. Satisfied, I picked up the dead prey in my jaws, ready to take it back to the clan for the kits.

That was when I detected the scent of a different Pokémon. The scent of a familiar, handsome young jolteon was what it was. I dropped the rattata from my mouth, the tips of my feline fangs stained in blood. I licked the blood quickly from my teeth and claws, hiding any trace of me killing this prey. I couldn't look messy since Thunder was here, oh definitely not.

He had barely entered my territory from the west side, which was where this hunting meadow was at. I stuck my head out of the grass, to see if I could spot his wild, roughneck fur and those shining blue eyes. I could spot him, his muscles tensed with nervousness, as he walked through the meadow.

"Thunder, over here!" I called out to him, love struck. I tried to make my most innocent girly voice that I could. I already forgot about the rattata lying dead in the field.

His ears stood up in surprise, and he looked over at me. He smiled, and waved, his blue eyes standing out. I gave a cute smile, and made a fake girly laugh. There's nothing guys liked more than cute and girly girls.

I walked over to him, a prance in my step. "Hi Thunder, are you here to hang out at all?" I gave out a purr, hoping he would be asking me out on a date.

"Uh… yeah, I am, as friends," he answered. My purr stopped cold when he ended with 'friends'. It looked like I had to kick it up a notch to get him interested.

"Come on, let's go!" I said enthusiastically. I ran past him, making my fur brush against him on purpose with a purr, but made it seem like an accident. I looked over my shoulder to see his face, his blue eyes wide with surprise, and he hesitated about it but he ran after me.

I teased him a bit as we ran, then I tried to run by his side. He sped up though, trying to make me race him. I got frustrated several times, nearly growling at him, but managed to hold it back. We ended up at Sugarsand beach, what I consider my favorite place in the forest. No one seemed to be there yet.

"Hey Thunder, want to explore around the place? I know this really rom… I mean cool spot, want to check it out?" I was about to say 'romantic', but thought it was too early to say the word yet.

"Nah," he responded, my tail drooping. "I rather have some chestnuts!" He laughed a bit, and I faked a laugh for him, not getting the joke.

I walked up to a nearby palm tree, the leaves of it drenched with rain. Chestnuts were hanging from the tree, and I unsheathed my claws and jumped up, quickly clawing one off the tree, then I jumped back up to get another one. I panted after two chestnuts were lying in the soft sand. I looked back at Thunder happily, but his face was filled with surprise, making me feel surprised as well.

"R-Ruby, I was j-just kidding. Couldn't you tell I was being sarcastic?" He cocked his head to the side, him being confused. My eyes grew wide with surprise, and I clenched at the sand with unsheathed claws and gritted my teeth, angry. I couldn't stop from a short growl escaping my throat, but quickly stopped it. I hoped he hadn't heard it, and tried to act carefree.

"Hehehe, I know that silly. I just got these down for later!" I lied.

**Thunder's POV**

_Liar, _I thought.

**Ruby's POV**

I purred, hoping he bought the lie. "Come on, let's go now!" I started to dash through the soft sand toward the romantic spot, and looked over my shoulder as I ran. I planted the brakes when I saw he wasn't running after me, my eyes wide in shock once more.

"Sorry, I don't feel like going there now, what about we eat the chestnuts now?" he asked. I tried very, very hard not to yowl.

"Fine," I replied, my tone with a hint of anger in it. I walked back over to him and sat down, waiting for him to open the chestnuts. When he starred at me, I nearly growled, "Well, open them!"

"R-Ruby, I got paws, how am I supposed to-"

I cut him off. "I don't care how you do it, just _open _it!" I yowled. He cowered from me yelling at him, but what did he expect, I was frustrated. He could at least see that, that hunk of muscle and cuteness. He struggled to peel the spiky shell off, first using his dull claws, then smacking them, and then plain just biting the spiky shell. After all the work he did, he finally managed to peel off the shell, well, one of them. I looked away as he shredded off the second one. I turned around and grabbed one of the peeled chestnuts, thanking him before eating. I realized I forgot to take that rattata back to the clan. Oh well, they could wait. I'd just kill another and take it back to the clan later to make up for it.

I noticed that Thunder's paws were stained with his blood. I wasn't that surprised that he didn't start eating his chestnut right away, as he checked his bloody scratches created from the spiky shell of the chestnuts. _Good thing he did it and not me,_ I thought. I continued to devour the chestnut cheerfully.

Thunder stopped the blood from flowing by wrapping his paws up with Velvetleaf Mallow leaves, forming them into temporary casts around his paws. We decided to head over to Silver Falls, that waterfall, so we could cleanse his scratches. We walked toward the waterfall, letting him lean on me for support. I couldn't be happier with our soft pelts touching for nearly half an hour as he leveraged against me, and I held back the urge to nuzzle him, but I couldn't help but purr. When we reached the base of the waterfall, he immediately stopped leaning against me, and he limped toward the lake. Some Pokémon started to gather around me, eager to know what was going on since they saw me with Thunder.

"Are you close friends?" one Pokémon asked.

"How long have you known each other?" was another question asked. There were several others.

"Are you dating?"

"Do you like him?"

"What's his name?"

"Does he like you?"

"Why are his eyes blue?"

"Do you think he's good enough for you?"

"Hey what's going on over here?"

"OMG got to go tell someone!"

"Will you answer my question yet?"

"Hey stranger, Ruby the luxray was hanging out with this adorable jolteon!" There were several more questions and statements, and I tried to answer most of the questions, in the mood for some gossip. Thunder was busy tending his wound, and no one seemed to crowd him. I tried to tell everyone to get away from me and to leave us alone, but the chatter in the gathered crowd was too loud, no one able to hear me. I gave a frustrated sigh, quickly answering questions to make them leave.

"Yes, I like him."

"Thunder, his name is Thunder."

"We're not dating, at least not yet."

"I like him, and I'm not sure if he likes me yet."

"He was born that way; don't make fun of some dudes eye color."

"Good enough for me? Please, he is definitely good enough for me girl!"

"Gossip, now SHHH!"

"Go gossip somewhere else."

"Huh? What question, too many to keep track of." I answered so many other questions, and it seemed that when someone left to go gossip more, some other Pokémon came to make things harder. Thunder seemed to notice that the crowd gathered because of us together, so he edged as far away as he could, really close to the base of the waterfall. He cleansed his wounds the whole time, patching everything up. No one went up to him, already with their info from me, so he sat by the lake, alone.

I didn't even try anymore to shoo everyone away, since everyone was too interested to leave after the word got out. I answered all these questions, exhausted and bored. When everyone left me alone and went back to their business, the sun was already sinking out of the sky. When I saw this, my jaw hanged open in disbelief. This would shorten the time of Thunder and I hanging out together, lessening the chance of him falling in love with me. I made a frustrated sigh, clawing at the ground before I finally relaxed. It was simple to make him fall in love with me tonight. I should be super kind and buy him an expensive dinner, then we head some place private and romantic later tonight, and I'll kiss him. It would be as easy as stalking a rattata in a meadow.

I headed over to where Thunder sat down at, his small scratches were healed from all the time he had to rest. There was a magikarp in the water and he was chatting with the fish, Thunder obviously agitated. I started to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"How could you get all the way over here from Forest Grotto, with how far it is from here?!"

"I have a few buddiez, three floatzelz that helped meh. Alzo, trust meh mate, I'll still murder yu when I evolve, now dat imma out of dat fountain," he replied with confidence, his voice with a pirate accent.

"Somehow your pronunciation got worse," Thunder growled, his face showing only the emotion of anger.

"Aye, mate, I know dat, and I have tu say it iz fabulouz." Thunder smacked the magikarp on the side of the head before he could swim away. Before any more talk could take place, I quickly ran up to Thunder.

"Hey Thunder, I'm sorry it took so long, since I'm so popular and everyone is so curious about us and… you know."

"I do not know," he responded with a small growl. I was taken aback by his hostility, but shrugged it off.

"So, Thunder, I've been thinking that we should head over to Forest Grotto and get some dinner, my treat," I explained. Thunder seemed to relax.

"Sure, I'm hungry again anyways," he replied with a shrug.

We had to head back to my clan so I could fetch some of my Poké. I beckoned at him to enter my den when he hesitated, where several other luxray evolutions were relaxing. Several of my family members came up to greet him, except for Lobo, my luxio brother. Thunder and Lobo kept an even distance away from each other, giving constant glares of hatred. I ignored their silence, not wanting Lobo to ruin anything. I quickly went to the stash of Poké in the far back of the den, and stuffed a few hundred into my frizzy mane. I was going to buy something expensive for our dinner.

We were about to leave again, when my mom called my name. Thunder decided to wait outside. I walked up to my mom, a luxray, and wondered what was up.

"Now Ruby, darling, remember to keep it nice and simple. Don't ruin your image of being one of the most popular Pokémon in the forest. Now have a fun time."

"Whatever," I responded selfishly.

As I walked toward the cave entrance, she said one more thing. "Also, remember not to get too crazy." I didn't utter another word as I left, a bit annoyed. She couldn't tell me what to do, not anymore. I walked away with Thunder walking side by side. The sun was already close to being behind the mountains, the sky a tint of pink. We started to walk over to Forest Grotto together, Thunder looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Two sides of Pecha berries," I told the vulpix at Ninetales Café.

"But I want Sitrus berries," Thunder complained.

"Fine, so we want two sides of Pecha berries and another side of Sitrus berries."

"What else?" the vulpix asked.

"I would like an Oran berry shake. Thunder would like a… an Apple cider."

Thunder groaned. "I can order for myself, you know. I would actually like an Apple Smoothie."

I was going to reply to his smug comment by saying 'whatever', but knew that was the wrong attitude to make him my boyfriend. "Okay Thunder, sorry. I'll order what I want then you can say what you want, okay?" He gave a slight nod with a cute smile. It was so hard not to blush at that.

"Okay, so I'll have two sides of Pecha berries, an Oran berry shake, and the roasted berry shish-kabobs."

"I'll have a side of Sitrus berries, an Apple smoothie, and a few peeled chestnuts, roasted," Thunder said after me.

"Great," the vulpix waiter said. "I'll give this order to Ninetales right away, so you're welcome to find a table." I quickly thanked the vulpix as he padded around a corner into the kitchen to give the order.

Thunder and I quickly found a table, and we started to chat. It didn't seem like we had anything in common, but we did both like battles, and we thought about us battling each other sometime. Seemed like it would be a fun time, but we would definitely be dating by then, Thunder _will _be mine!

That was when a vulpix came over with all of our plates of food, wrapped in his six tails. I grabbed my Poké from my mane quickly, putting it in the spare tail of the vulpix.

"Keep the change," I offered, trying to seem generous in front of Thunder. The vulpix settled the plates down on the wooden table, and we both started to chow down.

When we had finished eating, Thunder seemed to enjoy being around me now. We had been in there a long time, talking. The stars were transparent in the sky, the sun nearly out of sight. The half-moon started to climb up the mountains. I looked over at Thunder and he had the cutest smile on his face.

"Well, I think I better head-" he started, but I interrupted him.

"No, wait, Thunder, let's hang out a little longer, please?" I gave him my most pleading face that I could muster up, hoping he would say yes. I gave a cute puppy dog pout.

**Thunder's POV**

I starred at Ruby's desperate puppy dog pout. She really wanted to hang out longer, throwing away her dignity like that. Well, the day may have started out rough, but the dinner was great, and Ruby even paid it herself. It also wasn't like I had other plans. Plus, what was the worst that could happen?

"Sure, it's the least I can do," I answered. She smiled happily, glad that I agreed to her plans. "Where do you want to go?"

She then brushed her fur against mine, my cheeks becoming a slight shade of pink. "Just follow me," she replied with a deep purr.

Then she turned around to face me, making eye contact. She took me by surprise, as she starred into my eyes. I couldn't tell if it was a friendly stare or an intimidating one. She smiled, and then she started to run out of Forest Grotto. I quickly got over that awkward moment and ran after her.

**30 minutes later…**

"Hey, aren't we at Silver Falls?" I asked, not used to this place at night.

"Yep," she answered, her expression hidden by the darkness. That was when she started to run up that hill, the one that led to the top of the waterfall. She beckoned at me with her paw, encouraging me to follow her to the top. We ran up the hill and past some rocks and along the side of the river. I could barely see Ruby with all of her black fur that blended in with the darkness. My sight in the dark wasn't that 'superior' like the nocturnal Pokémon. Some Pokémon think that eeveelutions have great eyesight in the dark, but no, that's only for umbreons and flareons.

We arrived at the top of the waterfall, us staring at the view. I had a serious case of déjà vu when we sat side by side there, like when I was with Shard. It felt a bit like I was with Shard, except… I felt uncomfortable with Ruby. After a bit of thinking, I decided I would head back to my den soon.

After a few more minutes, we just stood there watching the darkened scenery in silence. For me, I could only see the top of the trees, and the half-moon with the stars, but everything else was a splotchy blur of darkness. The view wasn't as good as it was at dawn, like when I was with Shard.

"Ruby, I think it is best if I head home, since it is getting really dark," I finally admitted. I looked over at her, wondering if I'd see a look of despair or surprise. When I turned to see her, I saw her staring at me with a dreamy look. How long has she been staring at me? Maybe she just looked over, or maybe it was the whole time.

I looked into her eyes, trying hard to see her emotion in the darkness. Her eyes seemed to shine with the dim light that hovered above. I then was shocked, seeing her giving a sexy purr, unlike the other purrs she made. She licked over her muzzle with her tongue, and I yearned to get closer to her for some weird reason. I could easily tell she was being as sexy as she could be, and… it worked.

"Uh… actually, I might stay a bit longer," I revealed, my mind cloudy from her pose. She made eye contact, and even though I wanted to break the stare, I couldn't. We remained like that before she broke the glare, and she gave a cute giggle. I noticed I was starting to blush, so I quickly looked away.

"Thunder," she started, her voice sounding golden for the first time. "I need to tell you something." I looked over at her, hesitating at first. When I looked over, she pawed over to me, and sat down to where her soft fur brushed against mine. My cheeks grew a hot shade of red.

"Thunder, I know it's been a short time we've been hanging out together, but I feel like you're as close to me as a member of my clan." That didn't help calm me down; as she leaned against me so I could hear every one of her purrs with each drawing breath.

"I know that we will be great friends." I continued to look at her, mesmerized. She turned to look at me, her eyes full of lust.

Then she leaned in, closer and closer to my muzzle. My ears pricked up with surprise, my jaw hanging slightly open.

**Ruby's POV**

"I know that we will be good friends," I said lovingly, ready to see his expression. I turned over to face him, my eyes full of lust. He looked transfixed on me, his blue eyes wide. _This was my chance, _I thought, as I leaned in to his muzzle. His ears stood on end and his jaw started to hang open in surprise. I quickly seized my opportunity, and put my muzzle up against his, pulling him in for a kiss. I quickly moved my paw onto his back, just in case he tried to break away. I pushed my muzzle against his and started to kiss him.

He didn't return the kiss. Immediately, he tried to break away. I used my paw to keep him still as he struggled. If he didn't enjoy this kiss, it was over. I kept him in the spot, my tongue in his maw as I tried to make him kiss back.

After a few seconds, his struggling got weaker, till he finally stopped. His eyes closed as he returned the kiss. I closed my eyes as well as we shared the compassionate moment.

It felt like only a few seconds but also an eternity, but finally Thunder broke the kiss so he could breathe. His eyes were wide with surprise. I gave my sexiest look that I could muster up, my eyes full of lust. I quickly pulled him in for another kiss, and that time he didn't struggle away. Our tongues danced around in each other's maws in the beautiful kiss. It was definitely better than the first one, as Thunder tried his best to make the kiss as wonderful too. I broke the kiss that time on purpose, to keep him wanting more.

He stared up at me, and I leaned closer and closer to his tensed up ear. "I also know that we'll be _great_ if we were _more _than just friends," I whispered delicately into his ear.

His beautiful blue eyes were relaxed then, but his voice told me he was still excited. "W-Wow, I mean, just, wow," he stuttered. Then _he _leaned in to kiss me. We both shared our third kiss before I broke it again.

"Can you hang out tomorrow?" I asked, giving my cutest pose. His jaw hung open, as if he saw me as a different person. I licked him on his cheek, and then nuzzled it.

"Y-Y-Yeah, s-sure," he stammered, his mind obviously clouded up with our special moments. I waved by to him, gave a quick peck on his red-shaded cheek, and ran off, leaving Thunder breathless behind me. Finally, he was mine.

** Author's Note: I feel so bad for Thunder... Also, sorry about the slow updates because I've been getting writers block. Also, I'm sorry guys. So anyway, there's a new poll out for what you fans out there want more: Romance or Action :D. Also, SUPER sorry about this but I have to put this story on temporary hiatus, which means I won't update this for a while. But I really caught up with my other stories, and I only have to get ONE MORE CHAPTER UP! Sorry but I'll try hard to finish this chapter and then I'll continue! Truth is I already have the chapter for "Thunder and Ice" already done, but I won't publish it till I get this next chapter up. So it'd be like putting up two chapters in one day. Thanks for understanding, and see you later.**

…***brofist* XD**

**PEWDIEPIE ROCKS :D**


	10. Shard's Discovery

**Me: Welcome back everybody!**

**Shard: It's been so long! FINALLY WE'RE BACK!**

**Thunder: Nearly all summer!**

**Me: Sorry about that, guys…**

**Shard: We're finally backed from hiatus! Shadow finally finished adding chapters to her other two stories!**

**Thunder: She basically rewrote one of her stories, "The BoltBlast Chronicles."**

**Shard: It's part romance now!**

**Me: I also promised I had a surprise (If you checked my author note I put up on my last chapter, which I rewrote a bit ago and talked about a surprise). The surprise is a SUPER EXTRA LONG CHAPTER!**

**Shard: YEAH :D**

**Me: Enough about that, Thunder and Ice is back!**

**Thunder: Shadow doesn't own Pokémon! ~**

**Me: Stop saying that :(**

**Thunder: Why?**

**Me: If you say it once, they all already know it. It's called a disclaimer.**

**Thunder: Really, well, okay then, if you say so. Onto the story!**

**Shard's POV**

I woke up with a yawn, the sun shining outside beautifully. The storm clouds must have left the forest last night, and a bright rainbow could be seen in the distance. I smiled, seeing the beautiful day. Today, I was going to hang out with Thunder, finally, after two long, stormy days. Today, the weather was perfect, and my heart was beating with joy. The last two days was so boring without him. The first day was a cold rain all day, and I was stuck in my den. The second day was still a bit rainy, but I decided to hang out with Star at her den for a bit, feeling bored without my social life for a day. There was no way I could have forgotten this day, and I bet Thunder didn't forget it either. I got up on my paws, and stretched my limbs, then started to groom my fur to get rid of any unnecessary dirt in my fur. Then I saw my purple heart gem necklace, and quickly slid it around my neck. It glimmered in the dawn light, the gem dangling loosely around my neck. A bright smile was on my face, seeing that today I looked fantastic. Hopefully after today was over, Thunder and I could be best friends, or perhaps… maybe, no, it was way too soon. Despite my romantic feelings for him, I knew I had to have some patience or it would end up badly.

After eating a few berries, I padded over to my straw bed, with that sky blue colored blanket on top of it. I decided to lie down, remembering what Thunder had promised. He explained that he would come over early in the morning and then we would hang out again. Man, I couldn't wait till we could see each other again. Sometimes during the storm, I felt depressed and lonely… also known as lovesick. Relaxing on top of the blanket, I thought I could just rest and probably daydream a bit to pass the time, patiently waiting for Thunder to arrive.

I thought of my dream life. How I would like my life to be like in the future. I wanted to have a nice big den, somewhere still in Sugarcane. I would have a nice stock of berries, and plenty of Poké, carefully hidden. My straw bed would be big enough for two Pokémon, one for me and one for my mate. My mate would be Thunder, of course. We would have a great relationship, and we would be living together in the same den. We would have a honeymoon and all that romantic stuff, and also have a few eevee kits. We would have several family outings, while we still kept in touch with our friends. Ruby of course would be gone, out of the picture. She had moved to a different forest a long time ago, and I would finally be free from her torture.

It had been a little bit more of the daydreaming, but then I realized the sun was already over those mountains, and about a quarter ways up in the sky. It wasn't dawn anymore, and in a few hours, it would be noon. It was awfully late for Thunder, and he promised he would show up. I shrugged the feeling off, but I should've gotten up at least. Once I stood up, I stretched my limbs again then headed towards the den entrance. I leaned against the cave walls, staring off into the distance. The rainbow was still visible in the distance, but was starting to fade away. I sighed, craving for Thunder's presence. I sat down, my tail overlapping my two front paws, and my ears a bit lowered.

I've waited to the point that the sun was nearly in the middle of the sky. I was tapping one of my hind paws impatiently, and was crunching down on an Oran berry. When I finished the berry, I looked out into the slushy terrain. The snow was bright, casting a sparkly reflection among the snow from the sun. The pine trees were caked with powdery snow, and under the tree you could see some grass that was protected from the snow. I could see that familiar lightning-struck tree close by and several pine needles and branches were still missing from it. A frozen lake could hardly be seen in the distance. Soon it would thaw out, and there will be ice cold, refreshing water.

It had been too long. I sighed, becoming depressed once I saw where the sun was in the sky. Thunder must have forgotten today, and the thought of that was enough to make my heart feel like it was being shredded into two. How could he forget… forget about today? Well, maybe he had other plans, and maybe all the times we made eye contact a few days ago were a bit awkward. He could have just not have been in the mood, or maybe he didn't even care about me. The thoughts spun around in my head, making me feel dizzy and a bit nauseous. My eyes fill with tears, my vision blurred and wavy. My face felt hot, and my legs felt shaky. I gritted my teeth in emotional pain, trying not to cry out in a tearing rage.

This seemed a bit ridiculous, which I figured out a bit after I got all emotional. I noticed it was just silly to overreact like this. I wiped the tears from my eyes, the fur under my eyes stained with tears. Licking my paw to get rid of the tears, it had a fresh salty taste. With a last sigh, I decided to just run over and hang out with Petal for the day, or something. A bit shakily, I started to trudge in the general southern direction, ready for the support from a friend. I dashed along the slushy terrain, nearly slipping several times. Sprinting, I entered the non-snowy forest area, and I located Petal's den minutes later. I tried my best and pushed the thought of Thunder away, knowing that it would just bring tears.

Soon, I was standing in front of Petal's den, my eyes feeling heavy and my limbs aching. My knees felt as if they buckled, and I could've fallen over right there. I felt like I was already drained, but when Petal asked why I wasn't with Thunder and why I looked so beaten down, I practically flooded her den with my tears. She instantly supported me, inviting me inside her beloved home.

Inside, Petal let me lie down on her leaf bed without hesitation. Instead of a straw bed, Petal has a leaf bed which she has to change with fresh giant leaves every day. She gave me an Oran berry to munch on while I cried into the leaves of her leaf bed. The only thing I could notice in her den was that Petal's berry supply was running on low, so it was generous for her to give me some. Petal wanted to make me as happy as she could, but I had a strong feeling I wouldn't get that cheerful today.

"I can't believe Thunder could just forget about your plans today. You said that he had a great time with you a few days ago," Petal remarked, still in a state of shock.

"He j-j-just blew m-me off, I c-c-can't b-believe I-I-It," I sobbed, heartbroken. Petal reassuringly dropped another Oran berry in front of me, and then patted me on the back. Finishing off the first berry, I started to wolf down the second one before a second went by. I knew Petal would give me a Sitrus berry if she could, but they were hard to find, also mentioning she had few berries left. The fur under my eyes was soaked, my tail hung between my legs, and my ears plastered against my head. I barely felt better, barely.

"Don't worry about him. We can hang out today, like going to Serperior Spa for relaxation and Orchard Hillside for apples, or get some lunch at Ninetales Café," Petal offered. Finished with the second Oran berry, I used my paw to wipe some tears out of my eyes. No matter if I liked it or not, I was going to stop crying.

"S-Sure," I replied, still a bit teary. I slowly stood up; my legs weak and wobbly like a twig. The Oran berries didn't really seem to help that much.

Just then, a familiar fluttering sound was audible from outside. The flapping of wings was what it was, Skylar's wings. The naïve pidgeotto must have thought of hanging out with Petal today. Skylar flew in at an amazing speed, but just before she hit the ground, she shifted her wings' position which acted like breaks, stopping her in mid-air a few feet off the ground. She was about to land with elegance, pulling off yet another one of her famous speed drops. Skylar didn't land yet when she saw my weak and ragged body. Seeing me drenched with tears must have been a surprise to her, and to confirm it, her eyes shot wide open.

"Shard, weren't you going to spend the day with Thunder? I mean, I thought he promised he would hang out with you like he did a few days ago, and I don't think he would just blow you off like that. That would make him a major jerk. Shouldn't you be with him like, right now? Oh, did you blow him off?! Did he realize a shy girl like you didn't have a chance against a roughneck troublemaker like him? I mean, that-" she continued to chatter on, and I felt the urge of tears start to come back, but Petal quickly silenced her.

"Shh!" Petal demanded, giving Skylar a stern look. "Can't you see that Shard is crushed? I'm trying to make her feel better, not worst." Skylar finally landed, her wings falling to her sides. She could be really talkative sometimes.

"Sorry," Skylar apologized, not squawking another word.

"It's okay. I'm going to cheer Shard up by taking her out for a day on the town. We'll hang out at Ninetales Café, buy things like accessories and stuff, go to the spa that is right by the beach! Maybe even just stroll through the forest, head to Orchard Hillside to see if any apples are still there, and other stuff like that." Petal described a bunch of things in detail, and then Skylar continued the list. For example, some of the things they listed were heading to the beach, the waterfall, the frozen lake near my den, unexplored areas, and many other possibilities. Soon, it got a little out of hand, and the sun was now exactly in the middle of the sky. Skylar even insisted on tagging along.

"Guys, are we going or not?" I interrupted, slowly getting my confidence back. They both looked over at me, and laughed.

"Hehe, sorry Shard, we got a little out of hand," Petal apologized, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Yeah, let's just go and have fun already," Skylar suggested, already flapping her wings, flying high into the air. "Oh please, can I decide where we should go first, please, please, PLEASE?! If you don't, I'll release my wrath of pleases on you." I groaned in frustration. I could've really needed a spa treatment, but I already knew that wasn't what Skylar would pick. She hated that place, and basically all places girly.

"Fine," I nearly growled. At least I wasn't sad anymore, but that feeling was replaced by one of annoyance. "Where do you want to go?"

"To Orchard Hillside, before they run out of apples!" she exclaimed. Before both Petal and I had time to react, she already flew swiftly into the air and through the pine trees, out of sight. I knew that she was one of the fastest birds Pokémon in the forest, so I had to find out which direction she went and fast. I dashed outside hoping I could see her before she left, but it was to no avail because Skylar already sped out of sight. Oh well, we would meet up with her at Orchard Hillside anyways. If she would be thinking once she got there, she would save us some apples if there were any of them left. Judging by her rashness and her personality, she wouldn't even think about the apples for us and just grab one for herself, and then try to figure out how long it took her to get there.

I started to run after her, heading south-western of Petal's den. Shrubbery and foliage came and gone as I ran, and Petal quickly caught up to my side. "Looks like someone's starting to feel better," Petal pointed out. All I did was laugh, and continued to run along toward Orchard Hillside.

**Skylar's POV**

Soaring high in the sky, I knew I was leaving Petal and Shard in my dust. They could never catch up with me, no matter how hard they tried. A blurry image of pine trees spinned around below me, but I tried not to look at it because all I would benefit from it was a headache. Looking around, there was no other flying Pokémon this high up in the sky yet. The sky was my element, my battlefield, my home. Since I knew I had a talon-full of time left, I did a backflip in the air, and then did a spiral dive below the trees, nearly running into a rattata, but quickly pulled up back above the forest. I knew if I saw the face of that rattata, he would be so freaked out. He probably thought I was trying to catch him for dinner like a normal bird Pokémon could do. His face must have been hysterical.

In less than a minute, I saw a wide open field which had apple trees in a small area. Orchard Hillside was stuffed with Pokémon, and I would be surprised if there were any apples left. More apples wouldn't grow back for at least a week at minimum. I adjusted my wings which enhanced my speed, making me speed up towards the apple trees. Then the apple trees were directly below me, so I made a sudden shift with my wings, stopping me instantly. Then I adjusted them again, and I dove down at a surprising speed, going from a still stop to a rushing dive. Then I readjusted my wings one last time, inches away from the ground, and then it made me stay at that ground level. I was still going at an insane seed, except my body was inches away from the ground. I nearly hit at least a dozen Pokémon and five apple trees before I was able to shift my wings to slow me down. Seconds later, I was able to land, the sudden adrenaline still rushing through my veins.

As I predicted when I was still in the sky, the apples were all picked clean. A few buizel were by the trees, watering them with water gun attacks. A few Pokémon that were in the middle of the apple trees looked really confused, and a few super frightened. Well I guess that was the aftershock of when I nearly knocked over trees and Pokémon like bowling pins because I couldn't stop an insane speed right away. I shrugged, and then started to peck at my wing feathers, noticing that a few leaves were stuck in my right wing. I used my dagger-like beak and pulled out the leaves, seeing they came out of my feathers easily. I counted, noticing I pulled out fifteen tiny leaves. My right wing was now looking gorgeous, just like the rest of my body.

Next, I decided I should survey the ground, just in case an apple fell out of the tree and no one picked it up yet. Alerted, I started to search around the trees, peeking around each tree trunk and by every blade of grass. My hawk vision would help tons if any apples were still here. After a minute of dodging loitering Pokémon and apple trees, I finally saw an unharmed piece of red fruit leaned against an apple tree. I grinned, quickly picking it up with my talon. I would've started to devour it right then, but I wanted to have a view. Basically, I was just going on the edge of the apple trees and then lean on a tree trunk.

Less than ten seconds later, I was leaning against an apple tree as planned, the apple still in my talon's grip. I moved my talon toward my beak, seeing that my claws on my talons had pieced the apple's skin, but that didn't matter. I opened my beak, taking a large bite out of the top of the apple. It was definitely fresh, very juicy, and it was rejuvenating. I took another bite into the same area, savoring the sweetness. Orchard Hillside is the main resource for apples, and any other apple trees were difficult to find. Nearby, I saw that one apple tree that was charred and covered in soot with a smoky smell from that one day when there was a fight. The memory was vague, but I could recall some of it. One of the Pokémon was a grovyle while the other one was a blazikan. I think the name of the grovyle was Blade, and the blazikan was Jet. Blade had amazing swiftness, evasiveness, and speed while Jet had outstanding strength, power, and had a very heating flame. Most of the battle was basically grovyle dodging most of blazikan's attacks, clearly making the fire type frustrated.

Shrugging the thought off, I noticed that about no time had passed. Shard and Petal still weren't here yet. Bored, I started to scan the area, hoping it would pass the time. I noticed three baby caterpie playing around, and then there were fennekin cubs talking in a group. Two tauros were testing their strength by head-butting each other, their horns smashed against the others horns. Then I saw a pair of Pokémon…

My beak opened wide, my eyes shot open, and my talon let go of my apple, making it fall to the ground with a thud. The pair of Pokémon… it… it was Thunder, but he was with Ruby! That devious luxray had no limits to her chaos, did she? Accidently, I flapped my wings from the surprise, and then gave out a high pitched squawk. Ruby must have tricked that jolteon somehow into hanging out with her, or something. Before I could settle my rustled feathers, I saw Ruby lean close toward Thunder's muzzle, and then the locked lips. I gave out another squawk, seeing the open-muzzled kiss. That… that kiss… you usually don't have that kiss until it's late in your relationship, since usually they just lick, or kiss, each other on the cheek or muzzle. Ruby was just cruel, a really cruel person. The Pokémon near them wanted to desperately to talk to Ruby, most likely about her relationship, but they held back. Ruby must have asked… no, demanded, for them to leave the pair alone.

Then my feelings of anger towards Ruby were replaced by ones of worry and fear. Thunder was Shard's first ever crush, and now he was smooching with her arch enemy! Even worse, Shard was on her way over here right now, and she would be here in a matter of minutes, this was bad, this was bad, this was seriously majorly bad! My reaction when I saw these two was one of serious anger, but Shard… she was very sensitive, and since Thunder blew her off, she was very vulnerable right now. Wait a second; Thunder didn't hang out with Shard today like he promised because he was going to hang out with Ruby, out of all the Pokémon in the world?! Something very messed up was going on right here, but out of everything, I needed to keep Shard away from here before it was too late. Having little time, I nearly tackled my way through the small group of fennekin cubs as I tried to get away from here. I soared into the sky, retracing my flight pattern and tried not to rush. I knew that if I tried to hurry, I would end up skipping over Shard and Petal if I saw them, despite my hawk vision.

Slowly and cautiously, I surveyed the familiar forest below me. The forest view from the skies looked a ton more familiar then when I'm on the ground. Avoiding myself from rushing through this, I scanned the area as fast as I could without overviewing things. About a minute later, I thought I had passed them and that I really did rush through this, so I was about to turn around, but then I saw two figures sprinting through the forest. One was a light blue and the other one was tan with a leaf on its head. It was Shard and Petal without a doubt, so I dived immediately, and then when I was about to crash into them, I pulled up so I was starting to fly right about them. I screamed their names.

"SHARD, PETAL, EMERGENCY, STOP RUNNING PRONTO OR I WILL START TO PECK AT YOUR HEADS!" I screamed. Shard was the first to notice, skidding to a stop and then was in a sitting down position. Petal however freaked out a bit when I yelled. The leafeon didn't recognize my voice, most likely from the wind in her ears, and actually started to run faster, and because of that, she tripped over her forepaws and face planted, getting a muzzle full of dirt. Petal didn't get up for a second, but when she did, she had calmed down and realized it was me. She started to rub the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Before I said anything, I wanted to explain to Petal what I saw so she will help me keep Shard away from Orchard Hillside. I landed right next to Petal, first using my wing to smack her on the back which forced Petal to cough up the dirt she swallowed. Next, I leaned in toward her ear, using my wing to block Petal's ear and my beak from Shard, which also helped keep the noise down. "Petal, we have to keep Shard away from Orchard Hillside!" I yelled in a whisper. "I just found out why Thunder blew Shard off, because he wanted to lock lips with that devious luxray, Ruby!" I looked over at Shard to see if she heard what we said, but telling by her blank expression, she had no clue. Then I looked over at Petal, seeing her eyes were wide open and her jaw was hanging. Her ears were flat against her head and her tail fell limp to the ground.

Petal leaned in close to my ear. "We have to keep her away from Orchard Hillside!" Petal exclaimed, her voice a bit raspy.

"Well no duh," I responded. "Just follow my lead." Quickly, I backed away from Petal and got in my usual position, trying to have my biggest smile.

"So… what are you guys trying to hide from me?" Shard asked. Of course she would suspect something since she saw all that whispering.

"Well I found… I found some Poké on the ground at Orchard Hillside, but I'm not sharing it!" I tried to hold up my image of rashness.

"Um… okay then, so let's continue to head over there, shall we?" The glaceon started to paw over towards the open field.

"NO!" Petal screamed, jumping in Shard's path. Shard was forced to stop, making her raise an eyebrow. Petal obviously wasn't used to lying.

"No? Why not, what's going on?" Shard asked, demanding for an answer. She stomped her paw down to prove she's serious. I quickly thought up another lie.

"Because I decided I wanted to go over to the spa instead!" I exclaimed. Shard shrugged, and then started to walk around Petal. She continued to edge closer to the smooch-fest… this wasn't good. "Hey Shard, I thought you like the spa!" I shouted after her. I flew up in the air then sped toward Shard, and then I landed right in front of her and stretched out my wings. I was totally blocking her, and if I wasn't, I didn't know what blocking was.

"I do love the spa, but we're already here and we might as well rest before we head over. Also, it's basically on the whole other side of the forest, and I'm not in the mood to walk that far," she explained, and then she ran around my wings. While she started to walk away, I tried my best to think of something else, just anything to keep Shard away from Ruby.

In the middle of my thinking, Shard looked over her shoulder to look at me. "I also know that you absolutely despise that spa, so since you offered to go there without any bribing involved, I know something's up. I'm going to Orchard Hillside if you guys like it or not." Oh man, it was going to hurt her a lot more than it hurts Petal and me. I looked over my own shoulder to see Petal's reaction, seeing she was stunned in the spot. There was nothing we could do to stop Shard, because once she sets her mind on something, it's nearly impossible to stop her. My head hung in defeat, and I just hated the feel of defeat.

"NO!" Petal screamed after Shard.

"Stop!" I yelled. "You don't know what you're getting into!" Shard didn't pay attention to our words, continuing to head toward Orchard Hillside. Screaming, whining, or blocking wouldn't do anything except slow her down, but doing that wouldn't make any difference once she got there. There was no changing her mind now, so we had to help get her in and out of there quickly. Petal and I trudged along, my head low to the ground and Petal's tail dragging along behind her. Soon, Shard walked out into the open clearing. I winced, scared of her reaction to all of this. She didn't see Thunder and Ruby right away, so her reaction would just come at any time, so the tension was high. Looking around, I still saw the two lovebirds in the same spot. Shard started to look in their general direction, but she seemed to skip over the two. Then, I watched the two electric types snuggle up to each other, and then Ruby started to bury Thunder with kisses, giving them to him on his cheeks.

Shard's ears and tail stood on end, and I knew Shard saw them at the worst moment. Seeing them hanging out together was one thing, but seeing Ruby shower Thunder with kisses was something way more serious and heartbreaking. I paid close attention to Shard's reaction. She was mortified. She was in that alert pose for mere seconds, her face a ghostly pale. Then the depression settled in. Her whole body was tensed and her tail hung between her legs. Her legs tingled, weak and limp, and then her ears looked as if they were glued to her head. She started to wobble to the sides, and it looked as if she was about to fall over and pass out. Looking at her face, her eyes were coated with tears and she was grinding her teeth together to help hold the tears back. Her face turned a light shade of red unlike her paleness, seeing her whole face was starting to burn from the tension in her cheeks. A few seconds later, her bright red face then was flushed once more, her face now pale as if she saw a legendary.

"Thunder… he blew me off for… this?" That was all Shard could say as she let the tears start to flow for the second time today. She used her paws to muffle her cries of despair, hoping no one would start to stare at her. She fell on the ground in a laying down position, her tears starting to soak into her fur. She stayed like that for a few minutes, Petal quickly running up to Shard to support her, but I couldn't take my eyes off Ruby. That luxray had done some really gruesome things to Shard, but this was unacceptable.

About ten minutes have passed, and Shard was still sobbing away, and there was no surprise there. Then she lowered down to only sniffles and was rubbing her sore eyes. Her paws were drenched with tears and the fur under her eyes was soaked. She tried her best and started to groom herself, getting the tears out of her fur. She was able to clean her paws, arms, and her face, but she couldn't groom away the sadness. She was absolutely devastated.

**Shard's POV**

I looked around the field, wondering what Skylar and Petal were so worried about. It couldn't possibly be that bad. Scanning the area, I saw that the apple trees were picked clean, so would Skylar overreact like that because of this? No way, there had to be something more. I continued to scan the area. I saw a group of fennekin cubs playing together which looked so adorable. There was a starly and a pidove arguing about something in the distance. Then I saw-

I was mortified. My jaw hung open, my ears and tail on end. My face was flushed and turned into a ghostly pale as if I saw a legendary. Thunder and Ruby were together… and Ruby was showering my crush with kisses. Out of everything he could do to make me feel terrible, this was the worst thing that could have ever happened.

My state of shock was replaced by my despair, my pale face turning a light red. I felt as if I had a fever, my whole face burning with tension and anger. Tears started to well up in my eyes, but I started to clench my teeth together to hold myself back from crying. My legs then felt limp and shook uncontrollably, almost as if I was being propped up by worthless twigs that were about to snap. My tail fell between my legs and my ears lowered so much that it was pressing up against my head. Then the burning sensation on my face, the redness was gone and turned pale again. The urge of crying seemed to double.

"Thunder… he blew me off for… this?" I stammered. That was the only words I could utter, my body feeling like it could explode. Then my emotions were too great to control. My legs failed to keep me up any longer and so I collapsed to the ground in tears. I used my arms and paws to muffle my cries, hoping it would be enough to keep people from noticing me. Tears started to pour out like Silver Falls, and soon I had my arms and muzzle drenched with them. I couldn't tell how long I was crying but I didn't care. Soon it was all out of my system, and it was reduced to short sniffles. My eyes were aching, so I used my paws and rubbed my eyes, getting any leftover tears out. My purple eyes most likely looked dull and lifeless.

Now I knew I was a mess. Before anyone could see me, I started to groom myself, getting the tears out of my fur. The tears tasted salty and bitter, almost like Ruby's heart. Soon I was able to get any tears out of my pelt, off my paws and arms, and off my muzzle, but I knew there was something I couldn't hide. My sadness… there was no way I could cover it up.

Slowly and shakily, I got back onto my paws. Skylar and Petal walked up to me, trying to look away from my gaze. They did nothing wrong, and they did their best to try and hide this from me, so I couldn't blame them. The only person I was angry at was Ruby, for ruining my life. Looking down, I stared at my necklace, the gem also looking dull. The gem seemed to match what my eyes looked like, dull and lifeless.

"It's okay Shard," Skylar reassured, patting my back with one of her wings. Petal walked up to me, then used her paw to get a lone tear from under my eye.

"It's going to be fine," Petal comforted. No… it wasn't going to be fine. It totally wasn't going to be fine. Thunder wasn't going to hang out with me, because he chose Ruby over me. We were mortal enemies, and he chose Ruby.

"No…" I stammered. "It… it won't be okay… Ruby has done some terrible things… even that time when she…" I zoned out, knowing that I was going to burst out into tears again if I talked about Gem and Phantom. If I talked about them, then I would just lose it. "…Well anyways, this is one of the worst things Ruby could do to hurt a girl emotionally. I don't see how Thunder and I can be friends after… after this." When I said that last sentence, Skylar and Petal looked shocked beyond belief.

"Shard, you can't really mean that," Skylar squawked, moving her wing off my back. Petal just starred over at me, speechless. "You're just being ignorant, and this is just getting to your head. You just need to go home and confront Thunder tomor-" I didn't let her finish that sentence.

"No Skylar, don't you see, it's over between me and Thunder, but he didn't really like me anyways so what's the point?!" I snapped. Skylar took a few steps back, intimidated. Petal still stood in the spot, unmoving. Then a thought came to mind. Thunder could've seen me, since technically I was in the field, even though I was on the outskirts of it. Oh no, Thunder could see me out here, and if he wanted to talk, who knows what horrible things he could say to me. "Oh no, I have to get out of here!" I panicked screaming, frantically looking around. Then I realized that I screamed that, and I quickly covered my muzzle. A few nearby Pokémon started to stare at me, and I started to blush in embarrassment. If Thunder didn't notice me before, he would've noticed me now.

I looked off into the forest, and started to charge my way out of Orchard Hillside. Nearly reaching the trees, I heard that familiar voice, the one that I used to want to hear all the time but now I just wanted to get away from it. "Hey Shard, wait, stop!" I heard Thunder yell. I wanted to continue running, right through the trees where he wouldn't find me, but I didn't. Almost like an obedient little pup, I sat down, skidding to a stop. I was so dead.

A bit regretful, I turned around to see Thunder charging after me. Ruby was clearly frustrated, running after Thunder from behind. All I wanted to do was run, but my instincts were screaming at me to stay. I didn't know why, but I couldn't question it. "Uh… hi, Thunder," I greeted, trying my best to look as cheerful as ever. It was a bit difficult, but I knew I could hide my sadness temporarily. I looked around for my friends, Skylar and Petal, but Skylar was hiding in a nearby tree, while Petal was hiding behind that same tree's trunk. Oh… they were giving me some alone time… aw man.

Thunder and Ruby had made it over. "Phew, I'm so glad you stopped. I really needed to apologize to you," Thunder revealed.

"Wait, what?" I mumbled by accident. My ears perked up and I knew for a fact that I didn't look depressed anymore. Ruby was glaring at me, an icy stare of hatred.

"Yeah," Thunder started, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I… I am just really sorry. When I saw you over here, everything seemed to snap back to me, and I remembered about our day together, I totally forgot."

"Huh?" Ruby and I both said at the same time.

"It's just, I got a bit… distracted last night, when Ruby became my girlfriend. My mind felt misty and I have no idea what took over me," Thunder continued. Wait, Thunder seriously didn't know about the how Ruby was one of the most devious Pokémon in the world? Well, it wasn't like he was told about this, and Ruby must have tricked Thunder into being her boyfriend.

"So… you want to hang out… now?" I asked timidly, looking up at him.

"Um… I know I promised you we'd hang out today, but I can't just blow of Ruby like this, she is after all my girlfriend," Thunder admitted, still rubbing the back of his neck. "But if you want to, we can hang out tomorrow."

I was able to stand up fully. Did Thunder really expect me to say yes? Doesn't he know that I feel so awkward since he has a girlfriend, not to mention she's my mortal enemy?! Does he know how weird it is to have two close friends who are girls, and one of them is his girlfriend? It didn't seem right, so with all the confidence I could muster up, I started to talk back to him. "And what makes you think I'll say yes?" I asked, my head cocked to the side

"Uh…" Thunder stuttered, not knowing what to say. "It's because… It's because I think of you as a really awesome friend. I know for a fact I won't meet a girl as cool as you are," he flattered. Ruby looked seriously annoyed, but Thunder ignored her. Thunder and I locked eyes, and I nearly got lost into the icy blue color. We stayed like that for a few seconds, and then I could tell he was being sincere. He wasn't lying in the least, telling the honest truth. I couldn't be mad at him, since he was willing to forgive and forget. I broke the eye contact, and looked away from the pleading jolteon.

"Of course I'll hang out with you tomorrow," I muttered, starting to paw at my tail nervously. "I'll come over to your place, early in the morning, and we can hang, do we have a deal?" I then looked back up at Thunder. He looked so relieved and grateful.

"Deal," he agreed, giving a bright smile. I smiled as well, glad that we were still friends. Now I had to repay the favor, and tell Thunder all about Ruby's rude ways. I didn't do it because I wanted to, but because I had to. Ruby didn't deserve a guy like Thunder. At that moment, it looked as if Ruby was going to explode with anger.

"Thunder, I need to tell you something, about Rub-" I started, but once Ruby heard that first syllable of her name, she knew exactly what I was going to say. She dashed in between me and Thunder, blocking most of my view of the jolteon. She faced Thunder, but I couldn't see what she was trying to do.

"Hey Thunder, baby," Ruby started, her voice sounding weirder than usual, with a purr added to it. Oh wow, she was trying to psych Thunder out, up to one of her tricks. She gave him a small kiss on one of his cheeks. Ugh, I gagged at the sight of that, thinking that together they looked awful. They were totally wrong for each other. It really pained me on the inside though, seeing Ruby was kissing Thunder right in front of me. Anger was starting to build up inside of me, but most of it was sadness. Ruby just had to push these things.

"Thunder, can you go check to see if there are any more apples left?" she asked. Unbelievable!

"But… but I know that there aren't any left as a fact, I don't think that…" Thunder argued, but then she started to cross the line. She gave him a kiss on a muzzle, and I was hardly able to see Thunder's cheeks turn a slight pink. "Uh… okay then, I'll go check." No way… I could totally tell that Thunder didn't want to check, but Ruby got all up in his mind right there, messing with him like mind control. I bet if Thunder still refused the second time, she would go so far and give him an open muzzle kiss, and the thought of that made me want to run away. Wait, Thunder was leaving us alone, me alone with Ruby. This wasn't going to be pretty.

Ruby and I kept watching Thunder till he was out of sight in the cluster of apple trees. Then Ruby turned around to face me, her fur sticking up all over the place. Her eyes were a golden yellow, but one look and you could tell it was the eyes of a killer. She gave out a vicious snarl, her teeth as yellow as the desert's sand with the sharpness of a dagger. Her smudgy back fur stood on end, making her look twice her normal size. I felt my face go pale, and I cowered down close to the floor. She was going to push my shyness once more. No one was paying attention to us, unfortunately.

"Listen RUNT!" she roared, slowly crawling closer and closer towards me. It made me wants to shrink down and get as small as possible. It was hard to resist myself from shutting my eyes tight in terror. Taking a whiff of the air, I could smell her revolting breath. It stank like trash, or like something that was left in the sun too long. Or maybe it was… death. I took a chance and peered into her muzzle, seeing a tuff of purple fur wedged in between some of her fangs. There was no mistaking it, but it was rattata fur. I gulped.

"If you like it or not RUNT, you are NOT going to tell that hunk of muscle anything about me! If you ruin my chances of Thunder becoming my companion for life in any sort of way, I will make sure that your life will be a living nightmare more than it already is!" she screamed. She started to edge closer to closer, and soon our muzzles were touching. Her breathe intoxicated the air, making me want to cough real badly. How could Ruby make herself look so sweet at one moment and then like a horrifying beast in a second? How could she hide all of this viciousness from Thunder, and how could Thunder be so gullible? I couldn't help it and I shut my eyes tight, wishing she would just back off. I felt the tears coming back, but I didn't let her see them. I just held it in.

"UNDERSTAND?!" she roared right in my face. I couldn't help myself.

"Yes, yes! I understand! Just leave me alone!" I screamed in panic with an accidental high pitched voice. I was holding onto my ears, wanting this torture to end! Accidently after I finished my sentence, I gave out one of my usual pitiful squeals, and Ruby just laughed at me. Oh, I so badly wanted someone to see this, and maybe they would see Ruby for what she really was.

"Alright runt, I bet you have learned your lesson," Ruby growled, backing away from my face. I didn't dare to do anything till a few seconds later, seeing that nothing bad was happening, and that I could smell fresh air again. I opened one eye, seeing Ruby was a few feet away. Her fur was starting to relax, making her look her normal size again. She wasn't glaring at me, and she stopped all the snarling and growling. She actually looked like a normal genuine Pokémon, but it was just all an act. How was she able to look like an innocent luxray so fast?

I stood up, seeing that my gem necklace was coated with dirt. Ruby just starred at it and laughed. "Is _that _what you call a gem? Ha! It looks like something my brother would cough up!" she laughed, referencing her luxio brother, Lobo. I nearly sighed with relief, but that would make Ruby suspicious of something. Since my gem was covered with dirt, it probably just looked like a rock carved in the shape of a heart in Ruby's eyes, but she didn't know that it was some sort of purple gem. If she knew it was a purple gem, she would steal it from me, so I was so relieved. Quickly, I pretended to look offended, looking at the ground. I still didn't get up yet from my crouching position.

Ruby turned around, and I looked over her shoulder to see Thunder walking back empty pawed. She looked back at me, and growled. "Get up and act normal or else!" Immediately, I stood on my paws and tried to act like Ruby didn't just threaten me, mostly because of my fears toward her. I couldn't believe this, and I couldn't even tell Thunder the truth. Thunder finally reached us.

"Hey Ruby, I was right, there are still no apples," he mumbled. He looked over at me, and smiled. He started to walk closer to me, passing right by Ruby. "So Shard, what were you going to ask me?" Thunder was so close; he was less than a foot away from me. His muzzle was inches away from my own. My face felt hot, and I just wanted to spill everything about Ruby right then and there, but couldn't. I also had a sudden urge to kiss him, but ignored it. We were making such intense eye contact.

"Um… it was nothing. I was just going to say I looked forward to seeing you tomorrow," I lied. I broke the eye contact, not able to look Thunder in the eyes anymore. "Uh… see you later," I mumbled, than I turned tail and started to run back into the forest. I didn't look back, but I knew Ruby had such a smug expression. The last thing I saw while heading back was that same group of adorable fennekin cubs. One of them was staring right at me, a worried expression on her face. She must have seen everything that Ruby did to me. At least one person was able to see that. I shrugged it off, knowing that whatever a cub said didn't matter to anyone, and ran back into the forest.

Skylar and Petal was right in my path. They looked sad, but no way were they more miserable then me. They must have seen everything that happened. When I reached them, I didn't stop, but I sped right past them. I could hear them yelling after me, but I wouldn't stop. I ran and ran, my limbs already feeling wobbly, and I nearly ran into a tree. Unfortunately, Skylar was able to catch up with me, and she flew a bit ahead of me then flew down, blocking my path up ahead. I skidded to a stop, nearly crashing right into her.

"Shard, are you alright?" she asked, demanding for an answer.

"I'm fine," I lied, side-stepping right past her. Before I could take a few steps, Skylar blocked my path again

"Shard, we both know how depressed you are, so don't lie to me," Skylar ordered. I could feel my eyes start to fill with tears.

"I don't want to talk about it!" I snapped, running around the pidgeotto with ease. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Skylar stopped trying to block me. She just stared blankly at me, Petal barely catching up with Skylar, out of breath. My head hung low while I ran, straight back to my den. The sun was starting to lower out of the sky, so in a few hours it would be sunset. I didn't need to hang out with someone for the rest of the day, but all I needed was some time to be alone.

About ten minutes later, I arrived at the entrance to my den. Everything was there, and no one tampered with anything while I was gone. Checking my berry supply, I saw I was starting to run on low, which meant that in a few days, I'd have to go berry hunting. I sighed, and lied down on my straw bed, on top of that blanket.

From all that crying and running, I felt exhausted already. Maybe it was an okay idea if I just fell asleep early, since I had nothing else better to do. I rested my head, slowly drifting off into a deep sleep.

_-One hour later-_

I was dreaming about frolicking in a field. I had the power to fly and shoot purple laser beams from my eyes. Ruby was cowering below me as I soared above with giant staraptor wings, and I could freeze the world with ice element. I froze Ruby into a giant icicle, and laughed at her. Then I shot my laser beams into the sky, making the whole sky fill with violet colored clouds. Then it started to rain Sitrus berries! It was so awesome!

Then, something happened. Everything just disappeared. Snapping back to reality, I woke up from my dreams suddenly, now depressed. I kept my eyes closed though, still pretty tired. I couldn't have just woken up naturally because of how tired I still felt. I cautiously opened one eye by a slit, so if anyone was here in my den, they wouldn't know I was up. Then I saw what looked like a ball of yellow fluff. Startled, I accidently opened both of my eyes and shot up onto my paws. The little creature started to cower with fright. No way, it was that fennekin cub I saw earlier, back at Orchard Hillside. Was this the same fennekin cub that saw Ruby torture me back there? Well, it made more sense that it was that cub instead of a different one.

"Hey, you're that cub… who saw Ruby messing with me," I said 'Ruby' instead of 'luxray' because everyone seemed to know Ruby, even little cubs.

The fennekin looked as if it was nearly scared to death. Maybe she was surprised when I just shot awake like that, jumping onto my paws. A few seconds later, she seemed to relax. "Um… yeah. I was told by all the other fennekin cubs that Ruby was this smart and cunning luxray, but what I saw her do to you made me very confused. Can you explain everything you know about her, miss?" she politely asked.

"Sure," I replied. "But first, you have to tell me two things." The fennekin seemed to jump onto her four paws, eager for some answers.

"Anything!" she insisted. She was showing confidence and boldness, also with a strong persistence added to it. This fennekin seemed really headstrong.

"Okay, well first, tell me your name. Then secondly, tell me about how you found my den, okay?" I asked. The fennekin started to nod her head a lot, showing how serious she was about this.

"My name is Fawn!" she yelled eagerly. "Also, can you not talk to me like I'm a baby? I might be a cub but I'm pretty smart for one! Yes, I could tell." Wow, this fennekin cub was seriously different from any other cubs I've seen before.

"And how did you find this place?"

"Well, here's how it happened."

**Well I'm going to stop putting "Author's Note" at the beginning of all of these because you should know these are author notes by now. Anyways IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK! Hope you liked the super extra awesome miserable chapter, or not, don't expect you to like all the sadness but like how long this is. Anyways, I might want to keep chapters at this length, so if you want, tell me in your reviews if you want the chapters to be this long or go back to the usual length. Shadow Snivy out~**


	11. Fawn the Fennekin

** Shard: Welcome back everybody!**

** Thunder: YEP! *Is wearing a party hat***

** Me: Thunder, what's with the hat?**

** Thunder: It's obvious isn't it? *Puts a party hat on Shard***

** Shard: Yeah, you seriously don't know?**

** Me: *Shakes head***

** Thunder and Shard: *Gasps***

** Me: What? What is the problem?**

**Thunder: *Presses button and a huge explosion happen in the distance***

** Me: WHAT THE HECK?!**

** Thunder: *Shrugs* Better than a drum roll. You had more than 100 views to all of your stories in one day for the first time ever, and you have 50 reviews for this story! That is what this big deals about!**

** Me: Oh, I totally forgot about that. *Slaps my forehead***

** Shard: Actually when you say that out loud, it doesn't sound like that big of an achievement, the 100 views in a day thing.**

** Thunder: Yeah… I guess you're right. Although it's still her first time she reached 100 views in one day.**

** Me: In my opinion, that's a big achievement.**

** Shard: Duh, you're an author.**

** Thunder: Ugh, this is taking a while. ONTO THE STORY :3**

**Fawn's POV**

I stood up in front of the glaceon, trying not to seem afraid. Actually, I was pretty scared because I just walked into this den and woke up a Pokémon that could tear me limb from limb, so I wasn't sure what could've happened. Luckily though, this glaceon was so nice. "Anything!" I persisted, wanting some answers.

The glaceon looked right at me, standing about a foot away. I was a bit intimidated with the fact that this Pokémon was about three times my height. "Okay, well first, tell me your name. Then secondly, tell me how you found my den, okay?" she asked. I felt a little annoyed now, not worried. It was pretty easy to notice that she was talking to me like I was a baby. She had her voice high-pitched and she was saying it really slow and with a lot of optimism.

"My name is Fawn!" I yelled without hesitation. "Also, can you not talk to me like I'm a baby? I might be a cub but I'm pretty smart for one! Yes, I could tell!" I paid really closely to her reaction. She looked a bit surprised, but quickly shook the feeling off.

She didn't mention anything about what I just said, but she started to talk like I was a regular Pokémon. "And how did you find this place?" she asked.

"Well, here's how it happened," I started. We both sat down, knowing the story was going to be long. "Well it all started when I saw you with Ruby, and I watched you run off into the woods…"

_**Flashback**_

I watched the glaceon run off into the distance through the trees, and soon she was out of sight. I continued to stare at the area where she disappeared into the greenery, and then I noticed a bird-like Pokémon and some sort of grass fox-type Pokémon run in the glaceon's direction.

What just happened? That luxray had to be Ruby without a doubt. That had to be the same luxray that everyone says is nice and generous, but was that really true? I turned over to face Scarlet to tell her what I've just seen, still baffled.

"Scarlet, did you just see that? I just saw Ruby nearly kill this glaceon!" I exclaimed. Scarlet wasn't really paying attention till I finished talking, and then her ears stood up straight. She turned away from Copper to face me with a stern look.

"Fawn," she started with a surprising stern voice. "Ruby is one of the nicest Pokémon in the forest, and you know that. What, are you trying to spread a rumor so she looks like a monster?" I didn't know what to say, but she didn't believe me. I felt my frustration starting to rise.

"Scarlet, I'm not trying to frame her! It's true! I saw it with my own eyes! Ruby snarled and growled and her fur was sticking up everywhere, and she looked like a Pokémon created from Darkrai himself!" I exclaimed. Scarlet just gave me a non-believing glare.

"Stop it Fawn. Copper and I both know that Ruby is just a sweetheart. Stop trying to make her look bad. Plus, I don't even see a glaceon anywhere, so you must be lying." My ears started to lower in depression. They still didn't believe me.

"But it's true! The glaceon ran off into the forest in fright because of Ruby!" I whined.

Copper started to talk. "What's a glaceon?" he asked.

I was going to answer him, but Scarlet did it first. "It's an ice type that looks a bit like a fennekin but is blue and bigger and with a less furry tail," she replied. "A bigger ice fennekin."

Pouting, I tried to think of a way to convince them. I surveyed the field, but I saw nothing that left any trace of that glaceon. Right now Ruby was with something related to a glaceon except it was yellow with spiky fur and blue eyes, most likely an electric type. Maybe if I talked to that Pokémon, it would know where the glaceon lived.

No, I didn't want to go anywhere even remotely close to that demon luxray. If Ruby could send a fully grown Pokémon like that glaceon running for the hills, who knows how freaked out she could make a cub. The next best thing was to chase after the glaceon and hopefully I'd be able to track her. I turned around to face the two fennekins.

"Copper, Scarlet, if you're not going to help me, then I'll just go by myself," I announced without a second thought. They both looked at me with the kind of stare that says 'Are you crazy?' Well if they weren't going to support me or at least believe me, then I'd just go solo.

"Fawn, you're going to get in trouble! If you're not back by sunset, your mum won't be the only one who's angry at you, but also the Clan's Chief!" Copper whimpered.

"Yeah, listen to Copper! He's talking some sense, but what you're about to do is just plain crazy!" Scarlet complained. I stood as tall as I could, my fluffy tail sticking up tall behind me and my ears pricked up. My face showed only persistence and courage.

"I'm not going to back down now! I've made up my mind, and I don't care what you guys say! You guys don't even believe me!" I yelled. "It's not even close to sunset. I have a few hours to find her which is more than enough!" Before I could hear any more of their pleading, I had already turned around and started to dash towards where the glaceon had run off. I heard the startle cries and gasps from the two fennekins, but when I looked over my shoulder, they didn't start to run after me. They were being such terrible friends today.

Soon I was past the trees and now away from the Orchard Hillside. Even though I hadn't dashed that far, my heart was starting to beat out of my chest and I was panting like crazy. My lungs were working overtime and my tail was starting to drag around on the floor. It sucked being a little cub because I could barely run a small distance. Now I would either keep running and collapse at any second, or walk till I was ready to run again.

Five minutes of walking had passed. I decided to go with another tactic and try to track the glaceon instead of running around randomly. I had my nose an inch off the ground, sniffing around to find the glaceon's scent. I had no idea what a glaceon smelled like, but it was worth a try. I was also looking at the ground just in case the glaceon had dropped something that I could've used to track her.

Then suddenly, about another minute later, a shadow suddenly casted over me, and before I could stop and check what caused the shadow, I had bumped into something fuzzy. I immediately jumped back, surprised and worried. I cowered toward the ground, afraid at what I had bumped into. I covered my muzzle with one of my paws and my auburn eyes with my other paw.

I moved one of my paws a bit to see what I've ran into. Staring at the bottom of the creature, I saw a pair of pale pink deadly talons. I couldn't look away from them for a moment, but quickly snapped out of my fearful trance. Looking farther up, I saw several tan feathers, and then some light brown feathers as well. I got a glimpse of a sort of feathery tail to see a mixture of light brown and pink tail feathers. The tips of the Pokémon's wings were tan and then the rest of it was that same light brown. The beak was a shade of pink a bit darker then the shade of pink on the talons, and this bird Pokémon had a pink feathered mane. I was stunned on the spot. This looked like the sort of Pokémon that ate cubs for breakfast like what Mum tells me about!

Shivering with fear, my instincts were screaming at me to run away. I wanted to listen to them and run as far as I could, but I was frozen with fear. Staring up at the bird, I watched it slowly turn around. I expected it to see me right away, my tail falling lifeless to the floor with fear, but it didn't see me yet. It looked confused when it saw nothing in front of it, but then it looked down, straight at me. It started to stare at me with shocked eyes. The Pokémon was staring at me with a questionable stare. I couldn't control myself when I accidently started to whimper.

"Huh, who are you?" the bird Pokémon squawked. I didn't say anything, still staring at it with wide eyes.

"It's a fennekin cub," a Pokémon voice pointed out, coming out of nowhere. I looked around a bit to notice a second Pokémon was here. It looked a bit like a glaceon, except it wasn't blue but mostly tan. Her tail and ears represented leaves and there was a big leaf on the Pokémon's head. It was most likely a grass type. The leaf fox Pokémon pawed up till it was right next to the bird.

"A cub, why's a cub out here?" the bird Pokémon asked, now talking to the leaf head. The grass type looked at me again, now ignoring the bird brain. I realized these were the two Pokémon that ran after the glaceon, but some reason the glaceon wasn't in sight.

"Hey, don't worry, we're not going to hurt you," the grass fox reassured, making me calm down just a little. "Now, let me introduce ourselves. I'm Petal, and I'm a leafeon. This bird Pokémon over here is Skylar, and she's a pidgeotto."

So that meant the leaf fox was called a leafeon and the intimidating one was a pidgeotto. Even though I knew who and what they were which felt a bit more reassuring, I still was cowering on the ground, terrified.

"Come on you pipsqueak!" Skylar started to yell, making all my fears come back to me. I tried to get as close to the ground as possible instinctively, knowing that this pidgeotto was going to attack me soon. "Now stop that flinching and get up! Why do-" She started, but wasn't able to finish when Petal interrupted her.

"You're not helping Skylar," she said through gritted teeth. You could tell she wanted to shout it, but some reason she was holding it back. The leafeon took a few more steps close to me which made me flinch, but I felt calmer than before for some reason. "Now, we're both not going to hurt you. Skylar might seem a bit scary, but she really is nice when you get to know her," she explained. I felt a lot calmer already, but was still a bit frightened by that pidgeotto. Hesitating, I slowly climbed onto my four paws; my eyes darting in between the two Pokémon, never having my gaze leave their sights. They didn't make any moves to get closer to me or any harmful gestures. Once I was fully up, I tried to act tough by forcing my ears to stick up, standing as tall as I could, and my tail held high.

"So, what are you doing out here in the forest, all by yourself?" Petal asked. Skylar was looking at me with a grudging glare for some reason, but I tried not to look afraid.

"I'm here to find a glaceon, have you've seen one run off this way?" I was trying to act like a Pokémon from some major government organization, thinking it would seem intimidating. Then I realized what I had just said. I must've looked stupid since I just blurted that out and was acting all top notch. Of course they knew about the glaceon since they raced right after her when she left. Petal looked at me oddly from the way I said that, but then she tried to cover her confusion up, which didn't work.

"Oh, you mean our friend?" Petal asked. I started to relax a bit and slowly was slipping out of my confident image. I stared up at the leafeon, hoping she'd tell me where the glaceon's den or pack was. I nodded frantically to answer her question. "Okay, well I don't think it'd be nice to just tell you where her den is… so-" She wasn't allowed to finish.

"Yeah, so beat it pipsqueak!" Skylar yelled. I started to cower again, now back in a lying down position.

Petal turned around to face Skylar. "You're still not helping Skylar, so shut it!" she hushed, and then turned around to face me. Knowing what Petal was going to say, I already got back up onto my paws. "Now… like I was saying," she started, eyeing Skylar over her shoulder for a second. "It wouldn't be nice if I just told you, because I barely know who you are, but I can just give you the general direction if you want." My ears shot up. Finally we were getting somewhere. I found it weird though, the way Petal just said that. I mean, seriously, 'it wouldn't be nice if I just told you', what the heck?

"Where?" I asked, my fluffy tail starting to wag a little. When I noticed I was doing that, I used one of my forepaws to step on it, forcing it to stop immediately.

Petal looked over towards my right. "Just go north, in the snowy area. Find a lake and a tree that's burnt to a crisp and you should be nearby," she informed. The snowy area, I didn't know there was a snowy area in this forest. I wished Mum told me more about Sugarcane, and then maybe it'd be easier to find this glaceon.

Immediately, I started to head north, or to my right. Why did Pokémon say things like north and south instead of left and right? It is way easier to learn what's up from down instead of east to west. I remembered that I should've at least been polite though while I was running, so I looked over my shoulder to face the two Pokémon. "Thank you!" I shouted, seeing the cheerful expression of Petal and the annoyed one of Skylar. I turned around to see where I was going, my eyes growing wide. I quickly jumped to my left in a barrel roll, seeing I almost ran straight into a pine tree. Quickly I got back on my paws and continued to race towards the snowy part. Well I learned something from all of this: Look where I was going when I run, there's a snowy part of Sugarcane, and that I should be cautious around bird Pokémon.

I continued to run, smelling and hearing different things along the way. Within a minute I felt as if I could collapse from exhaustion. My speed had to be taken down a notch to a slow jog, making me feel a bit worthless. Why was it so hard to run? I've seen several Pokémon run twice the speed I was going and were able to last longer, but I could barely dash for thirty seconds. Maybe it was the fact that the fastest Pokémon were fully grown, and that some of them were born to have speed, like a Flygon. One day I'd learn how to run super-fast, and be one of the fastest fennekins in the whole clan!

It felt like forever. I passed countless Pokémon and trees, smelled hundreds of weird unrecognizable scents, and felt as if my heart was about to burst out of my chest. My heartbeats were pulsing hard in my sensitive ears. Each step felt like an eternity, but I continued to pad on. Soon I was slowed to a walk and I haven't even reached the snow. I started to wonder if I was heading in the wrong direction and thought about turning around, but I decided to continue and walk a bit longer.

Minutes passed and slowly I had regained my energy. I wanted to run farther north once I felt the newfound energy, but resisted the urge. I had to save the energy for running back if I had to. Another minute had passed, and then a cool breeze blew through my yellow fur, a comforting breeze. I haven't felt anything like the cooling wind before. Could've this been a sign I was getting closer to the snowy area, it had to be! I squinted and looked off into the distance to see if it was true. I stared at the horizon for a few seconds, and then I saw it. Beyond all of these pine trees was something white that spread far out, heading left and right. That had to be the snowy area! I felt a burst of adrenaline, now not going to hold back. I started to dash in that direction; relieved that soon I'd learn the truth about Ruby.

_**End of Flashback**_

"… and so I continued to run towards this snowy area. Soon I located the frozen lake and the burnt tree, and then I saw your den. I quickly ran all the way here, and so here I am!" I finished. This whole time the glaceon was listening intently, looking amazed. I must have been a good story teller, or maybe she was just surprised by the events that happened to me. Either way, at least I'd get some answers, but actually, I wanted to know the name of this glaceon first.

"So can you tell me your name?" I asked, staring at the sidetracked glaceon. She was looking off into the distance, something deep on her mind. Maybe she was thinking about her friends, or possibly Ruby. I desperately wanted to know the truth, but this glaceon was stalling me a bit. "Hello, you okay?" I questioned. I wished that I could wave my paw in front of her to get her attention, but she was too tall for me to even reach her face. Luckily though, talking a second time helped her snap out of it.

"What, oh, sorry, I was just thinking about something," she admitted. "So what did you want?"

I pouted, a bit annoyed. "I wanted to know your name," I repeated.

"Oh, the name's Shard," she replied, smiling. Shard was her name? I never heard a name like that before. It was so original, so unique.

"Cool name," I complimented. I wanted to say my name was better though, which was true, but that would hurt her feelings. "So Shard, now can you tell me about Ruby?" I insisted. Finally I was going to learn the truth. It felt like it's been forever, the impatience getting to me.

"Of course, so here's the short version. She's a horrible Pokémon. She is just terrible," she revealed. So this meant I wasn't wrong, and that Ruby was truly an evil person.

"I… I knew it!" I exclaimed. "Everyone thinks she's nice and generous. What is she really like?"

"She's self-obsessed. She doesn't care about other Pokémon and would do anything to make sure someone wouldn't find out. Few Pokémon actually know the truth about her, and I know most of it. Ruby's been torturing me ever since I was an eevee, and she had done some terrible things to me," she explained.

"Like what?" I asked.

"She threatens me. Since I know the most about her evil ways, she has done terrible things. The things she does most is making sure I fear her, and no matter how hard I try, I can't stand up to her. To make sure I fear her, she mainly makes her fur so huge she looks twice her normal size. Her eyes seem deadly and seem to pierce right through you; the eyes of a killer. She snarls and growls, her teeth as fangs as a desert's sand and are very sharp. Even from far away if you saw her like that, it'd send shivers down your spine. Even describing it makes me feel a bit scared," she admitted. I agreed with her; just the sound of what she does to Shard made me feel scared. She sounded like a demon spawn created from Darkrai and Giratina.

"What else does she do?"

"Oh, she just lives a giant lie. Everyone adores her and loves her 'charm'." Shard spat out that last word almost as if she hated it. "She's selfish and uses other people to get what she wants. If she ever wants something, she ends up getting it. The latest thing she wanted affected me… terribly." She looked down at her paws with a depressed expression.

Reluctantly, I asked the next question. "What, what was it?"

She didn't answer right away, but ended up admitting what happened. "He took my very first crush away from me." I gasped, shocked beyond belief. A Pokémon can take things, money, items, fame, but I could never ever trust someone who would take love. That would've gone way too far. "She somehow tricked my crush into being her boyfriend. We're still friends though, but he has no idea what he's really doing. It… it's just…" Shard didn't finish. I watched her eyes grow misty, about to cry. My ears started to press against my head and my tail fell limp to the floor. Shard lowered her ears and tail as well, starting to sniffle a bit.

To help her out, I ran over to her side and patted her on the back, as far as my paw could reach. It was obvious that she was trying her best to hold it in. If Shard started to break out into tears, I knew I would cry as well. Whenever you see a grown Pokémon cry, you feel as if all hope is lost and you just lose your mind. I knew right then that no matter what sickening thing Ruby would do to me, I wasn't going to stop till Ruby was stopped and everyone knew the truth.

"It's okay Shard," I comforted. "Someone is bound to find out about this. We have to tell someone." I had to tell everyone. If we don't, Ruby would never stop this.

Shard looked up, now staring at me. "We can't," she whimpered. I was surprised by her response. What did she mean?

"W-Why not?" I stammered.

"Some reason everyone who has found out about Ruby's true self has never actually gotten it through to anyone. Whenever someone finds out, they usually go and tell the first Pokémon they can. Usually every time someone tells someone else about Ruby, that Pokémon doesn't believe them. Several times, the Pokémon that doesn't believe what the other Pokémon saw actually tells Ruby themselves. That's when Ruby discovers someone has found out about her big secret, and then that's when she starts to threaten whoever knows about it to keep them quiet. Sometimes she already knows, and had already threatened whoever. So far I know no one who's stand up to her after the threatening though… except for one. Ever since then, that Pokémon has been living in fear of her with a permanent scar on her stomach to constantly remind her." My eyes were open wide, my jaw opened slightly with amazement. This had to be true because part of it already happened to me! My friends didn't believe about what I told them about Ruby, so Shard was telling the truth, one hundred percent!

"W-What else does she do, besides threatening?"

"She scares you so much with lots of the threatening. She does that mainly to make sure no one stands up and tries to stop her. The one Pokémon who actually stood up for her has been beaten senseless. Her name was Mist." The way Shard just spat that out gave me the hint that Mist wasn't that important, but I was still pretty curious.

"Who's Mist?" I asked.

Shard just shrugged. "It was a random female buizel who sometimes hanged out with me. She was more of an acquaintance then a friend though, but I felt really sorry for her when she was given that scar. I just try to forget about it. She moved out of the forest a few years back, part of the reason because she was tired of living in fear of Ruby. The fact that she was the only one who ever stood up to Ruby is the only reason I remember her. The confrontation happened in private unfortunately so no one saw it, but Mist told me about it a few days after it happened when I couldn't stop asking about the scar. Don't worry that much about her though." I found it weird the way Shard talked about it. It was as if it was no big deal, even though Mist was the only Pokémon who stood up for Ruby. Even though it seemed a bit weird, I had more important questions to ask her.

"Shard, why didn't you tell your crush about Ruby and all of her devious ways?" I asked. Slowly I've been piecing it together in my mind and remembered seeing Ruby with a jolteon earlier. That had to mean that the jolteon was Shard's crush without a doubt. Shard was there earlier with them, but she should've told the jolteon the truth about her.

"I could've told Thunder the truth, but it would be in vain. There was no way for me to tell if Thunder would trust me or Ruby, but I had a feeling it would be Ruby. Ruby threatened me right before I could tell him, and in order for her to threaten me, she was able to send Thunder away for a few minutes for the most ridiculous thing. She sent him away to go find more apples even though they were picked clean. Thunder obviously didn't want to go, but Ruby started to… kiss him, first on the cheek, then on the muzzle. It clouded up his mind and he did what she said to make her happy. I thought that if I told Thunder the truth, she'd start kissing him again, and cloud up his mind for a second time. If that happened… then first Ruby was going to attack me once we were alone, and then Thunder would think of me as a huge liar," she explained. After she finished, I understood what she meant. Ruby could've done whatever she wanted to trick Thunder, and Shard couldn't do a thing about it. It sounded so messed up. I didn't care about what had happened to Mist, I wanted to help Shard no matter what and stop Ruby.

I stood back up with a fearless expression. "I don't care what you say Shard, I'm going to help you stop Ruby, no matter what. If we work together, we can stop the pain she's caused Pokémon and not end up like Mist!" I exclaimed. Ruby may have been nice to Pokémon if no one knew what she really was like, but her real self was terrible. She didn't deserve anything she had, especially her fame and Shard's crush.

"Fawn, no, just stay out of this. I understand that you want to help, but it's too dangerous. I've told you the truth about Ruby, and that's that," she argued.

"No! Shard, I want to help you! No Pokémon deserves to be tortured like this!" I snapped. I wasn't going to leave Shard now, not after what she just told me. I wasn't going to leave unless she agreed for me to help her.

Shard stood up, towering over me. Suddenly I started to feel scared, seeing how tall the glaceon was compared to me. She could've forced me to leave her den if she wanted to. I swallowed hard, but then quickly forgot about that. She could force me out if she wanted to, but at least I would know that I had tried to help. Then Shard sighed and sat back down. Her ears lowered slightly and her tail overlapped her two front paws. She stared straight down at the ground. "Fine, if you're going to be so persistent. But I'm going to tell you one more thing first and see if you feel the same way still. If you still want to help, I'll let you, understand?" She looked up at me, staring me directly in the eyes. For the first time, I noticed she had these unusual but pretty purple eyes which seemed to match this beautiful gem that hung around her neck. To confirm that I was serious about this, I nodded with a determined look.

"Okay then, so here's the story. I've known Ruby ever since I was an eevee and she was a shinx. We were great friends." I raised an eyebrow, thinking that this was a fib. Seeing her serious expression, I realized she was telling the truth. "One time I was trying to find Ruby so we could play, but she wasn't at her clan at the moment, but her brother was, a luxio named Lobo, but at the moment he was a shinx. We introduced each other and then we started to hang out. One time we were staying out late, at the top of Silver Falls. He tried to kiss me there." My eyes grew wide. She was just an eevee! They both were way too young to even be alone together, let alone be in a relationship. I noticed however that Shard was telling it so fast and didn't seem baffled at all. It was almost as if she told the same story before.

She continued with a cracked voice. "I backed away before he could kiss me. He thought I loved him, and then asked me to date him right after that, but I refused. He growled and got real angry and then he threatened to tell his sister. I honestly didn't know what trouble would happen, so I called him bluff. He ran off, but I shrugged off the thought and headed home. The next day… he… t-they…" I started to feel worried a bit. If she was stammering like that, then that meant it had to be terrible.

"It's okay Shard, if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to, but I'll be ready to listen and support you if you do." Shard gave off a faint smile, than she took a few deep breaths. Then, she just let it all out and spilled everything.

**Thunder's POV**

"Bye Ruby," I said, waving goodbye to the beautiful luxray. She crossed over the border of her territory, gave out another one of those cute purrs, and dashed off. It was about time for me to head home, even though it was a few hours till it was dusk. I decided I'd just head home and relax the rest of the day, and maybe turn in early. I watched her run a while longer, making sure she made it to the group of dens in the center of the territory, and then I turned around and started to head home.

Smiling, I didn't know I could feel so happy, and I had no idea that a luxray could shower me with so many kisses. She absolutely adored me. So this was what it was like to be in a relationship. I never really had any friends in Maplewood, so I never had anyone close enough to me outside my family that could've been my girlfriend. Ever since that first kiss at the top of the waterfall with Ruby, I wasn't sure what to think. I had so many mixed feelings, but I had no idea how I really felt. I couldn't tell if it was happiness or if I was just lightheaded. Maybe that was what everyone else felt. Either way, it didn't really matter. My new girlfriend was one of the most popular Pokémon in the forest, and who else could say that?

I continued to walk along the thick spring grass. Flowers were blooming all around, several ferns and plants surrounding the area. Everything seemed calm and tranquil, a great evening. I stared around at all the greenery, seeing how beautiful nature really was. It has been forever since I had time to myself and to just admire my surroundings without any other Pokémon around. It was amazing.

My ears twitched when a loud squawk disturbed the peaceful forest silence. I looked directly up to see a dark black blur speeding down through the treetops, some sort of bird Pokémon. I stopped in my tracks to see who it was. The Pokémon swooped down at an outstanding speed, nearly ramming into a tree trunk. The Pokémon however shifted its wings several times so the bird did a loop to avoid a crash, slowed down quickly, and landed with grace. I was surprised to see that the Pokémon was actually Falcon, that staraptor pal of mine. So much for peace and quiet.

"Oh, hi Falcon, how are you?" I greeted cheerfully, and padded over to him.

"Just fine," he mumbled. "Thunder, did you go out with Ruby? Hunter told me everything." Suddenly I felt a bit worried. The way Falcon had said that made it sound as if going out with Ruby was bad.

"Um, yeah, she's my girlfriend now! Isn't that great?" I exclaimed, shrugging that weird feeling off. Falcon looked over in my direction, almost as if I was insane.

"Thunder, what about Shard!" he shouted. I raised an eyebrow, confused. We were just friends!

"Falcon, isn't it clear to you? Shard and I are just friends with nothing going on between us. Why do you seem so worried?" I really wanted to know what the fuss was about. It was like Falcon thought I was dating Shard.

He didn't talk yet. He started to stare at the ground, but he had a puzzled expression. A few seconds later, he decided to talk. "Have you ever thought about how Shard felt about this?" he blurted out. I wondered what he was talking about. She seemed fine when I saw her earlier, and she was excited to be hanging out with me tomorrow. I didn't see the big deal.

I was about to answer his question, my muzzle already opened to talk, but then I realized something. Shard _did_ seem to be acting pretty weird today now that I'd actually thought about it. I snapped my muzzle shut, now in deep thought. She seemed very nervous and some reason that gem on her necklace was all dirty. Her fur seemed a bit roughed up and her face looked a little wet. There was something strange about her, but I couldn't pinpoint it.

"You see?" he chirped, interrupting my thoughts. I stared down at the ground, thinking he might be right.

Then I thought that I was just overreacting. Seeing how Shard was, she wouldn't just freak out over me dating Ruby. When I was with her that one day, I knew she wasn't the jealous type. She wouldn't freak out about Ruby unless something was wrong with her, but Ruby was a sweetheart! Shard probably just had some sort of bad fur day.

"Falcon, she's alright. Nothing is wrong with her. She was just… tired, that's all." I wasn't sure if she was tired, but if I didn't say something, and then Falcon would still push this. Unfortunately, Falcon gave me a disappointing glare, making me think he didn't believe me. I tried not to look guilty or regretful of my reply, trying to act as if I was really telling the truth. Falcon finally let down, that pressuring look of his disappearing.

"Fine, but…" he started, but he trailed off, looking away from me. "…but… never mind," he groaned. He was hiding something, but I didn't want to push anything. He didn't push the subject about Shard, so I shouldn't do the same thing to him.

"Okay then, well I'll be on my way," I announced. I started to walk away, stealing a last glace of Falcon before he was out of sight. That certainly was an interesting conversation; certainly awkward though. It was probably nothing though, so I continued to walk through the forest, all tuckered out from today. It was time to hit the hay.

**Shard's POV**

"…and there you have it. That's what Ruby had done to me," I finished on the break of tears. I nearly cried through that, but luckily I was able to hold back the urge. Fawn however had cried a bit, shocked by what Ruby had done. She was getting over it still, sniffling a bit. The fluffy fur under her eyes was plastered to her face from her tears, making her look like a mess.

"And I t-thought the thing she did to Thunder w-w-was sad," she sobbed, wiping a last tear from her eyes. I stared at my paws, the memory replaying in my mind with almost perfect detail. Phantom… Gem… I missed them so much.

"Do you understand now, Fawn?" I asked. "I don't want you to endure any pain from Ruby. This must have been the worst thing Ruby had ever done to anyone, and I don't want you to feel any of it. You need to stay out of this, so I'll ask you one last time. Do you want to help me stop Ruby?" I hoped she would say no. I didn't want her to be hurt, or else the responsibility would be pinned on me.

The little fennekin cub looked at the ground, defeated. She finally understood me. Now all I had to do was let her go, and then she would have all the info she wanted. Even if she helps me, it wouldn't work because no one would listen to a cub. Suddenly though, Fawn looked up with a look of determination, surprising me. "No! I will not let this go Shard! You're not going to do a thing about this unless someone pushes you into standing up to Ruby!" she exclaimed. Oh Arceus, please knock some sense into this cub.

I looked away from Fawn as I talked. "It's better this way. I don't want to end up like Mist. If I don't stand up to her, then no one will get hurt. It's better-"

"How is this better Shard?!" she screamed. My ears lowered even more, not looking up at Fawn yet. I didn't say anything, and Fawn just continued to talk. "This is not right Shard! We have to stop her! Out of every Pokémon in the world, you are the one who absolutely positively doesn't deserve any of this! You are the nicest Pokémon I've ever met, and I can tell that even though I've only known you for about half an hour! We need to stop this." I sighed. Fawn was right. I couldn't carry through the rest of my life with Ruby torturing me and fooling everybody. I lowered my head in defeat.

"Okay Fawn, you're right," I admitted. "I don't want to end up like Mist. If I stand up to her alone, then I will get beaten up so badly, but I think if we get a few more Pokémon together, we can finally stand up to Ruby." I lifted my head to meet Fawn's determined amber colored eyes. "Let's do this."

"That's the spirit," she agreed, and both of us stood up. Fawn looked out at the sky, seeing the sun was getting close to setting. "Oh, I better had back to my clan," she mumbled to herself, but then looked up at me. "Hey Shard, have you ever heard about the fennekin clan?" I answered her question by giving a puzzled look.

"Okay then, well someone will know, so just asks them when you get the chance. I'm terrible when it comes to giving directions." She laughed a bit then suddenly changed to a serious expression. She looked over at me with hopeful eyes. "Shard, we are friends, aren't we?" she blurted out.

"Of course we are. You may be younger than me, and I mean _way _younger than me, but you're still pretty awesome for helping me out. We are definitely friends," I replied, not lying a bit. Fawn was a genuine friend, and she would always be for this amount of kindness. She even convinced me how wrong it is to just let Ruby go on with this.

"Okay, thanks Shard, bye!" she yelled, now running off into the distance; however she was running pretty slowly. She was just a cub after all. I headed over to my straw bed, seeing how messed up the straw was. Straw seemed to be everywhere. Sometime later I would have to go and find more straw and remake the bed. Sighing, I lied down on the bed, mostly on that blue blanket. Several things were on my mind at the moment. Fawn, her clan, Ruby, how she was messing with me so much, how she was dating Thunder, the fact I was going to hang out with Thunder tomorrow, and several other things. Even though several things ranged from 'not that important' to 'deadly serious', I shrugged off all the thoughts for now, trying to get some sleep. I burrowed myself as deep as I could into the soft fiber, wanting to fall asleep as quick as possible and forget that this day had ever happened.


	12. Another Day

**Shard: Welcome back to Thunder and Ice!**

**Thunder: Feels awesome for there to be another chapter!**

**Me: Also guys, as you've read in the last chapter, I've reached over 100 views in one day, but now I have 100 reviews all together, AND over 2000 views to Thunder and Ice!**

**Shard: Now that's something to be excited about!**

**Thunder: Congrats… again! *Eats an Oran berry***

**Me: You guys are the best characters ever! *Hugs them***

**Shard: You're the best snivy I had ever known.**

**Thunder: You're spectacular!**

**Me: Thanks again guys. None of this could've been done without you! Thanks for reviewing and continuing to read! Here's a special Thunder & Shard chapter!**

**Shard: I can't believe we're so popular :3**

**Thunder: I'm like a movie star!**

**Shard: Yeah, except for the money, the movies, the paparazzi, the looks…**

**Thunder: Hey, the looks?**

**Shard: I'm kidding. You're still pretty cute Thunder.**

**Thunder: Yay!**

**Me: You guys ready for more Thunder and Ice? Here it is!**

**Thunder's POV**

The dawn light slowly roused me from my sleep, forcing me to give a light yawn as I awoke. Slowly I climbed onto all four paws and stretched out my limbs. I shook some straw off my head and groomed out the bits in my fur. Yawning, I wiped the sleep from my eyes. I wrapped my red velvet scarf around my neck, and right after that I noticed my gnawing hunger, my stomach growling loudly. My thoughts trailed to the pile of berries in the back of my den, and my ears shot up. I jumped from my straw bed and padded into the very depths of my den, my blue eyes adjusting to the light, the help of a few sparks emitting from my fur to help. Scanning the berries, I felt disappointed when there weren't any Sitrus or Oran berries.

I ended up deciding to just have an Aspear berry. I opened my muzzle wide and bit hard into the berry. I felt a searing pain in my teeth right after, and the berry wasn't affected at all by the bite. Instinctively I jumped back from the surprising pain. The skin of an Aspear berry was dangerously hard, and I quickly took a note of it. Angrily I started to charge up the electricity in my fur for an attack. The surging power built up quickly and crackling sounds broke through the still silence. Finally I launched a bolt of electricity at the berry, hearing a smoky sizzling noise. The volts flowing through my fur slowly settled down and subsided. The sudden crackling sound of my electricity disappeared and returned to the early morning quietness.

I blinked several times. What just happened? Did I really just overreact like that? I sighed in frustration and looked at the ground. Never had I've been so short-tempered, ever! I wasn't using one of my moves though, but just charged up electricity and fired it. I expected the berry to be completely destroyed from what I just did. When I gave a short glance at it, I was genuinely surprised, keeping my eyes on the yellowish berry. It was burnt to a crisp with the hard shell cracked open, and some ashes surrounding the spot. I grinned, knowing that it would be easier to eat now, needing something to suppress my famish state.

The Aspear berry was sour and bitter unlike other kinds of berries. After quickly eating the sour core of the Aspear, I had repressed my hunger, but only for the moment. It was tempting to get some more berries but I recalled what was going to happen soon that day. Shard was on her way there at that very moment so we could spend the day together. I recalled what had happened over the last two days. When I had spent time with Ruby and when she kissed me… my mind seemed to get cloudy. She offered to spend the day together and I totally forgot about what I had promised Shard. I didn't even remember about the promise with Shard until I saw her at Orchard Hillside yesterday. I felt so miserable, and for a moment it was as if Shard wasn't going to be my friend anymore. I had no idea what would happen if our friendship was ever toyed with.

A sudden thought came to my mind. I've been acting all strange for a while. First forgetting about Shard then losing my temper over an Aspear berry, an Aspear berry! This happened ever since I started hanging out with Ruby. Was it because of her that I was acting so rash and ill-tempered? Maybe I should've-

"Thunder?" a familiar voice rang out in the distance. All of my thoughts seemed to disappear for the moment and I stared straight outside my den entrance. Not that far off was a blue canine figure running towards my den out of the vegetation. With that purple gem necklace dangling around her neck, the perfect light blue fur, and those matching purple eyes, there was no mistaking if that was Shard. I smiled, seeing that she had groomed her fur this morning. She seemed to get prettier every day.

Before I knew it, she made it to my cave. It was almost as if she was nearly out of sight less than a few seconds ago, then teleported somehow, but I knew that was not the case. I guess I just dozed off for a sec right there. That was strange. Some reason I couldn't get it off my mind till Shard started to talk.

"Good morning Thunder," she greeted with an angelic voice. She gave out a bright smile, completing her look.

"Welcome to my den once again Shard," I replied, unable to keep myself from smiling. The Aspear berry made my voice sound raspy, the bitterness affecting my throat. When I noticed how cracked my voice was, I immediately felt sweaty, gripping onto a few pebbles that were lying on the cold stone floor. Shard looked at me and giggled slightly.

"Are you nervous?" she asked. I gave a nervous laugh. Why was I acting so weird? Maybe it was just the Aspear berry.

"No, not at all." I stood up tall, hoping it'd make me look normal. "So what do you want to do? Are you hungry? We should head to Ninetales café for breakfast," I offered, remembering the incident with the Aspear berry, still hungry. Hopefully she wouldn't notice the ashes from my electric attack.

"Sure," she replied. "I'm starving. I forgot to eat breakfast before running over here." She then looked around the area, and then frowned. She turned around, about to leave surprisingly. My ears lowered slightly. "I forgot to bring my treasure bag. I think I'll head back and-"

Before I knew what I was doing, I interrupted her. "I'll pay for it."

She turned back around. "No, you paid for it last time. I think I should do it."

"Don't worry Shard. I'd be happy to do it again," I replied. I actually did want to pay for it again. I was starting to go low on Poké, but some reason I just wanted to do it. Plus, I didn't want her to leave.

Of course, she wouldn't say no to the kind offer. "Well, if you're sure."

"I'm totally sure. I don't want you to waste any of your Poké." She opened her muzzle as if to say something, but quickly shut it. She then gave a faint smile.

"Okay then, let's go." I stood up on my paws and quickly ran into the back of my den, grabbing the treasure bag with the blue lightning bolt design on it. I unhooked the latch and opened the bag, then stuffed a few hundred Poké into it. I then quickly closed the bag and threw it around my shoulders. My scarf moved slightly from the strap, but it didn't come off. I ran back over to Shard, ready to leave.

We dashed out into the forest. I of course went slowly enough so Shard could keep up with me, us running side by side. A few clouds covering the skies, and pine trees raced past us. Pokémon were already scattering around the place, and the usual pine scent was lingering in the early spring air. We continued to run, avoiding trees and passing Pokémon, nearly at Forest Grotto.

When we reached the place, Pokémon were already swarming the area and the sun was a little ways above the mountains. We walked along the forest path, seeing the fountain in the middle of the place. Shard quickened her pace and headed towards the fountain. "Come on; let's check out the pirate magikarp guy." Obviously she didn't know he was now at Silver Falls. I actually preferred him over here, since Silver Falls sounded like a nice place that he was going to ruin.

Before I could call out her name to tell her about the magikarp dude, she already made it to the fountain and put her paws on the edge. She peered into the crystal water, trying to find the scaly fish. When I made it to her side, she spoke up. "He's not here," she stated.

"Yeah, a few buizel moved him to Silver Falls," I explained. She got off the fountain edge.

"Well that explains why there isn't a crowd here. Looks like I'm not visiting Silver Falls any time soon." She laughed at her joke, and I gave a snicker at it as well.

I started to head over to the orange building with the flame designs. I looked over my shoulder at Shard. "You coming or not?" She grinned and dashed after me, and then we walked inside the place together. We walked up to the wooden counter, about to order.

A vulpix came over and jumped on top of the counter to get a better view of us. "Hello, and welcome to Ninetales café. May I take your order?" he asked with an unenthusiastic voice. He must've been tired from repeating the same thing to every customer, every single day. I scanned a board of wood with Pokémon symbols carved in it. I pondered over what to get, but couldn't decide between a plate of Iapapa berries or one of Mago berries.

Iapapa berries were yellow with an orange bottom and a sour taste. Mago berries were pink with a yellowish bottom and a sweet taste. After quickly debating what to get, I decided to go with some washed Mago berries, since I could still taste that Aspear berry and the sourness in my mouth.

"A plate of Mago berries. Is that all right Shard?" I glanced over at her, not wanting to get Mago if she wanted something else. She nodded, probably in the mood for something sweet. I turned around to face the vulpix again. "Yeah, Mago berries, and make sure you wash them," I confirmed.

"What would you like to drink?" the vulpix asked, his tone unchanging. You could tell he didn't want to be here this early in the morning.

I quickly thought about what to drink. I wanted something sweet, but maybe not the same berry. I decided to go with the sweet and familiar berry.

"Pecha berry smoothie," Shard and I said in unison. Surprised, I looked over at her, seeing that she turned to face me as well. Her cheeks started to turn pinkish, and then she quickly turned away, hiding her face. So she still did that.

"Okay then," the vulpix said, not caring about that awkward moment. "Please grab a table and someone will be out soon." The vulpix looked around the area behind us, then sighed with relief and jumped down from the counter. When I looked behind me, I saw no one else was in line.

When I was about to pick a table, also known as a block of wood painted with berries, Shard ran off towards one closest to the entrance and sat down. Was she still nervous around me? I shrugged the thought off and went towards the table and sat on the same end with her. I felt a little concerned about her. "Are you okay Shard?" I asked.

She turned to face me with those wide purple eyes. "I'm fine. Just a little... tired," she answered. The look in her eyes told me something was on her mind, but I could tell she didn't want to talk about it. Taking a guess, it was either about what just happened at the counter, me forgetting about our day together, or possibly how I blew her off for... Ruby. There was no way for me to guess what she was thinking about, but it was best not to pressure her about it.

The only thing I could think of was to comfort her. I scooted a bit closer, our pelts brushing against each other. She gave a wide smile, and she snuggled up against me, closing her eyes in comfort. I smiled, feeling a warm tingly sensation inside. I never really felt that feeling before. She leaned against me, burrowing into my fur and partly into my scarf.

We didn't pass any words. We just sat there, snuggling with each other. I wasn't sure if this was what friends did. I was aiming to just get closer to her and say that everything was okay, but then this happened. I was so comfortable I wouldn't want to move if I tried, and she seemed comfortable too.

A minute passed, and then another minute passed. We didn't move. Suddenly though I saw someone approaching our table. I turned my head slightly to see a poochyena walking over to us. I smiled, and then noticed it was Fang, which made me stifle a laugh. Still though, I didn't move away from Shard.

I noticed he was carrying a dish of Mago berries on his back, it tilting around, Fang desperately trying to keep it from falling off. I snickered slightly, realizing what was going on. "Hi Fang," I said with a mocking voice. "So looks like you're working here, huh?"

Fang moved around a lot, and somehow ended up getting the wooden plate on the table. "I'm nearly broke. The only way I know how to earn money is to either scout through fountain to take some Poké, or work here." I laughed again when he said the part about the fountain. "I'll be right back with your drinks, but I might be a little slow." He trudged off and headed behind the counter. I felt lucky that Fang didn't make fun of me and Shard being together. He was doing that a lot lately.

My attention moved back towards Shard. I noticed her cheek was as pink as the Mago berries on the table. I scooted away from Shard, starved. She immediately noticed me moving around, making her sit up straight. She looked at me with confusion with her smile gone. "Shard, look, the berries are here. Our waiter will be back with the drinks in a sec." She stared down at the berries with curiosity. It was almost as if she had no idea that Fang was just here. It was like she was in some sort of blissful trance when she was leaning against me.

I nuzzle the wooden plate over to her. "Come on. They're supposed to be really sweet, and I know that you like sweet things." I grabbed a Mago berry from the plate with my mouth and quickly munched it down. It was delicious, a nice tangy sweet taste lingering in my mouth. Shard leaned down and picked one up with her muzzle and chewed it slowly, enjoying the taste. She then swallowed it, a smile on her face again.

A few more minutes passed. We talked a little while nearly finishing the berries. Long story short, I found out that we liked beaches, mountains, sweet berries, and races. We seemed to have several things in common, and we even decided where we were going next. I felt stuffed, but could've tolerated a few more berries, nut I was parched. Fang was slow with our drinks.

Finally Fang came out with two wooden carved bowls which were painted with orange berry juice and with a red flame design. He carried one in his muzzle, and one clumsily on his back. He placed the one in his mouth down easily, but took some effort to get the other one off his back. A pink smoothie blend was in both bowls. "Sorry it took so long," Fang apologized. He then locked his stare on Shard, and then a wide grin spread on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, and I braced for anything he was about to say, before someone yelled his name from the kitchen. He closed his mouth and with an irritated face, ran back behind the counter towards the kitchen.

We both jugged down the smoothies, obviously thirsty. We dipped the remaining Mago berries into the Pecha berry smoothies, and then licked up the rest of the cooling beverage. Smiling, we stood up and walked away from the table, seeing the bowls and plate with some spilled juice. I quickly tossed some Poké onto the table, paying for the meal, and then walked out of the place with Shard.

Staring up at the sky, I saw that it was getting close to midday. We've been in there for a long time. "So where were we going next, wasn't it that frozen lake by your den?" I asked, remembering what we talked about back in the café.

She gave a smile. "Yeah. It's still frozen, and since you said you've never been on frozen ice before, I thought it was a great place to go," she revealed.

"Lead the way," I said with my memory a little foggy on how to get to Frosty Hills. She dashed along the forest path, straight out of Forest Grotto and started to head northwest. I followed her, racing quickly after then slowing my pace once I caught up with the glaceon. We ran for a while, me never getting tired, but then Shard slowed down after a while. She looked exhausted.

"Can we... take a... break?" she panted, completely at a halt. I skidded to a stop, concerned slightly.

"Of course," I answered, and then trotted over to her side. "Come on; let's rest under a pine tree in the shade." Quickly I located the nearest pine tree and jogged over, then sat under the pine needles which casted a lot of shade. Shard slowly walked over and lied down next to me, trying to control her breathing. I sat up and gave her some space, letting her take deep breaths.

After she was fully rested, she stood back up. "I'm ready," she said and dashed away from the tree, already heading towards the snowy area once again. I laughed slightly then chased after her, catching up within a few seconds, then I slowed down again. We ran side by side for a few minutes, Shard getting a bit tired but pushing on, and soon I could see a layer of white in the distance. Shard seemed to speed up once she noticed the Frosty Hills. I could already feel the cool crisp air from that distance.

We arrived to the slushy terrain. Shard didn't hesitate to step on the snow and continued to run on, and I noticed for the first time that she looked a little faster on the snow. I however stopped in my tracks, staring down at the cold substance. I still wasn't really used to this, and so I stepped down lightly on it. The warmth from my paw seemed to melt some of the slush, and then my paw went cold within seconds. I took a few steps onto the snow, slowly getting used to it again before I noticed Shard way out there in the distance. She was still in sight, but was getting farther away. I didn't think she noticed I stopped yet, so I quickly got into stance and dashed after her, snow being flung up as I ran.

When I made it over to her, we were nearly at the frozen lake. She didn't notice that I stopped back there, so at least I didn't have to explain anything. We slowed down once we neared the place, then both of us soon stopped, a few feet away from the frozen lake. Examining it, I noticed that the ice seemed pretty thick, so hopefully it wouldn't break underneath me if I stepped onto it. I couldn't even imagine how cold the water would be with the ice and snow everywhere. When the ice thaws out, I was totally going to come here and take some sips. It was going to taste so good during the summer.

"This is the lake I told you about," Shard said, pointing out the obvious. "There are quite a few things you can do here. For example, watch this." When I heard that last sentence, I stepped back a few paw steps and watched her from the sidelines. I sat down in the snow, ignoring the nipping cold. Shard took a few paw steps back, showing a few yard differences. She got into a position, ready to dash forward. A few seconds later, she ran towards the solid ice, snow flung behind her with a trail of paw prints following.

She jumped onto the ice. My icy blue eyes grew wide as I watched her. She slid across the ice at an amazing speed, spinning around as well. The lake was fairly big, but after about five seconds, she reached the other side. She hit a frozen yet wide rock and she flew off the ice, getting some air for less than a second then tumbled around in some snow. She then clumsily stood up, some slushy snow on her head. My mouth was open slightly, amazed. Now _that_was impressive! I never had a clue you could do that on ice.

"Awesome!" I shouted, my voice echoing slightly. "I want to try that!" I exclaimed. I stared at the ice, noticing that it had a reflection of the bright sky.

"I'm not stopping you," she giggled, getting up wobbly from spinning around on the ice. I ran a few yards away from the ice just like Shard did and got into that all so familiar running stances. I wiggled the stub I had as a tail slightly, then went at what I wished was rocket speed towards the ice. The slushy snow sailed beneath me, leaving heavy paw prints. When I was just inches away from the ice, I leaped into the air for a yard or two.

I landed on the ice, seeing that it was still pretty sturdy. I slid across and my legs slipped from under me. I started sliding around on my stomach, rapidly spinning. The terrain flashed around, continuously spinning, blurriness everywhere. I saw a flash of light blue from Shard as I circled by with snowy whiteness everywhere. The ice was smooth as I slid around on it, but when I reached the snow, I rammed against the rock and it knocked some breath out of me. I flipped around in the air and landed in a soft pile of powdery snow, some reason not slushy.

Lying down in the pile, the sky above me seemed to spin around like the pattern on a poliwag belly. The sun was exactly in the middle of the sky. I felt a headache coming on. I clumsily flipped over so I was on my stomach. I slowly and wobbly got onto my paws, then suddenly it felt as if the whole world was tilting. I leaned over to my left, unable to stand straight, then tripped over my own paws and fell on my side. I couldn't help but laugh. After a few more attempts I finally was able to stand up, the dizziness almost gone. The world tilted slightly, but not enough for me to fall over again.

Finally I was able to take in my surroundings. I was about ten meters away, so I was surprised on how far I went. It was way farther than when Shard went. Maybe it was because I went faster than her.

I trotted over to Shard, seeing that we were both not dizzy anymore. "That was fun!" I exclaimed.

She gave a faint smile. "Yeah, it was. The rock being there was just an accident. It must have been covered by the snow, and since it's melting... well you should get what I'm talking about," she admitted.

"Well it was still cool," I acknowledged. If there were more fun things like that, I was going to be so thrilled.

Shard bent down and licked her side, where she rammed against that rock. "So what else do you do here?" I asked, a few volts of electricity emitting from my fur before I forced it to settle down.

She stopped licking her side. "Well I usually slide across the ice slower. Its way more fun to glide around on it," she added. I smiled wide.

"Let's check it out!" I shouted and I ran over to the lakes edge. She quickly ran after me, ready to show me how to glide across the frozen lake.

Several hours had passed. It took me a while to learn how to stand up on the ice. Ends up that the ice was more slippery then I thought, seeing that I could never keep my balance. Shard had no trouble, making anything in the snow easier since she was an ice type, and since she probably did that stuff a million times before. After a while I looked up at the sky, and then I was genuinely shocked. Shard followed my gaze, and I noticed that she was surprised too. The sun was getting close to setting along the horizon.

"Wow, where did the time go?" I thought out loud. Shard padded off the ice over in my direction.

The setting sun reminded me of something I heard about. A pair of Pokémon was talking at Orchard Hillside when I was with Ruby. It was something about some sort of battle going on at The Cliff that evening.

"So I guess we should head home then," Shard assumed, lowering her head.

"Hey, the night's still young," I pointed out, wanting to cheer her up. "There's going to be a small battle at The Cliff soon. We should quickly check it out!" I gave a wide smile.

She gave me a questionable look. "The Cliff? What's that?" she asked. The Cliff didn't have an official name, which I recently recalled. Of course she would be confused.

"Oh sorry. The Cliff is that cliff by the beach where there are some battles. My friends and I just call it that since it doesn't have an actual name," I explained.

She didn't ask any more questions. She padded over next to me. "Let's go," she chirped with a smile. We started to dash towards The Cliff, ready to watch a short battle.

Pine trees hurtled pass us as we ran. A downside to this was that The Cliff was on the whole other side of the forest, so it was possible that we could've not made it, and that we'd be exhausted once there. We ran side by side together, taking breaks several times along the way. Most of it was for Shard, but once or twice I needed to rest slightly.

When the sky was a bright orange and the sun was on the horizon, we arrived at The Cliff. There weren't as many Pokémon there as I thought there would be. There was only about a couple dozen. It wasn't going to be a major battle, but it was probably just some agitated couple or someone in the mood for fun. I wasn't sure, since I only heard about this from a pair of gossiping Pokémon. I moved my gaze towards the field, seeing two Pokémon preparing for a battle.

The one farthest away from us was one resembling a deer. The top part of it was a light shade of pink with the bottom part of it tan. It had hooves instead of paws and a yellow flower on its ear. If I remembered correctly, this Pokémon was a deerling, and it was in spring form. It was supposed to look different during the other seasons.

The Pokémon closest to us was like a baby elephant. It was mainly blue with a spike on the end of each of his hooves. It had a short trunk with red markings on both of its floppy ears and one on the trunk. This was a phanpy, and it just looked adorable.

"Come on Shard," I whispered in her ear, and then started to walk towards the gathered group of Pokémon. We joined the audience on the edge, staring at the battlefield. We had barely made it just in time. From intuition, I thought that the deerling was going to win with the type advantage.

A starly stood on the opposite side of the field. It flew into the air till it was fluttering directly above the battlefield. "Fellow forest Pokémon, this is a battle between Phanpy..." the starly announced, then extended its wing towards the phanpy. Phanpy gave a battle pose, a few cheers erupting from the crowd. "...and Shika," the starly finished. He then extended his second wing towards the deerling. Shika stood up tall and gave a cute smile, more cheers coming from the crowd. Both Shard and I cheered softly for both of them.

"Let the battle begin!" the starly squawked before it slowly lowered out of the sky, landing on the other side of the field. Both of the Pokémon got in position with determined faces. The crowd screamed out their names, excited for the battle.

Shika started to dash towards Phanpy for a Tackle attack. Phanpy got into a steady position, not attempting the dodge. It was as if he was going to endure it. Phanpy lifted his trunk up and swirled it around quickly, preparing some sort of attack. Once Shika got close, the ground shook a bit and dirt started to rise in front of the ground type. It rose into a twister form, Shika finally realizing her mistake. She quickly tried to skid to a stop and avoid the attack, but it was too late to avoid the Sandstorm attack. It quickly closed around Shika and spun around her just like a twister.

Phanpy gave a smirk. You could hardly see the grass type inside the Sandstorm, seeing that she was struggling to get out. Phanpy got into another position, preparing to use another attack while he had the opportunity. He got ready to charge, wiping one of his hooves against the dirt. He then charged towards Shika with a Take Down attack, storming through the twister and hitting the deerling while she was vulnerable. She flung out of the twister, getting hurt severely by getting tackled out of it. The Sandstorm quickly subsided from the impact of the Take Down.

Shika wobbly got back up. I was shocked that Phanpy was doing so well against a grass type. That was a good thing that he knew how to take care of some of his weaknesses. Shika looked as if she was going to faint right there. Phanpy gave another snobby smirk and started to dash towards her to finish the grass type off. He raised his trunk, about to end the battle with a Slam attack. He got closer and closer, about to smack the deerling clear across the field. Cheers rocketed around from the crowd.

Suddenly a smile was planted on Shika's face. She stood up straight, Phanpy only yards away. She didn't even look remotely close to her weak and struggling state. She had a few bruises from the attacks, but she was faking! She jumped up, Phanpy unable to stop and sailed beneath her. He tried his best to skid to a stop, his trunk completely lowered and his attack canceled. Shika landed gracefully behind Phanpy and she quickly turned around.

A seed came from Shika's pelt and landed on the frustrated Phanpy. Vines broke out from inside the seed and quickly wrapped around the ground type. He had no time to dodge as he gets wrapped up with the strong vines, then the ground type falls onto his side. The vines were secured around him and had very tightly wrapped him up. The vines from the seed turned a bright green for a few seconds, and then Phanpy roared out in pain before the vines went back to the normal color. The crowd roared with cheers.

The Leech Seed attack was working perfectly. Shika probably planned in that Sandstorm that she would act weak, and so Phanpy would be overconfident. When he charged, he thought he already won that battle but the clever deerling deceived him. When the vines turned light green, Shika's pink fur glow a brighter pink. The attack was healing her with every ounce of health zapped away from Phanpy. Shika then charged towards him.

Once she got close to Phanpy, she turned around, only about a foot away from him. She stood on her forelegs and pulled back her hind legs. She waited a few seconds, getting ready to kick the Phanpy. He realized that he was about to get hit by a Jump Kick attack, and struggled more within the vines. Shika then moved her back legs and rammed her hooves into Phanpy painfully, sending him skidding across the ground like a useless rag doll and landed with a thud on the whole other side of the field. The vines then turned a light green and Shika's pelt a light pink, and then Phanpy screamed out in pain. The pelt and vines stopped glowing, some of Shika's bruises gone.

The Jump Kick attack was enough to weaken the vines enough, and with more of Phanpy's struggling, part of the vine tore. With a burst of strength, he broke the vine and then it all went loose. He moved his legs around and finally was able to stand up. However during that, Shika took the chance to ram him with a Tackle. She got close and when he was fully up and the vines were off, she rammed into his side. He tumbled over, newfound bruises covering his entire body. His blue fur was covered with dust and dirt.

Phanpy tries his best to stand up. Shaking, he slowly got up, determined to put up a good fight. Shika was amazed that he was able to get back up. She seemed sure that she weakened him a bunch with the Leech Seed. They stood there, no one making a move. Suddenly after a few seconds, Phanpy cried out and fell to the ground limply. His eyes closed and he lied on the battlefield all beaten up. Shika had won.

The whole crowd erupted with cheers. Even though not that many Pokémon were present, it was still deafening. I put my paws over Shard's ears for her so she didn't have to cower down from all of it. I winced at how loud it was though. The starly than announced the winner, Shika, and a huge speech on how everyone was a winner and all that mumbo-jumbo. You could tell however that all three of those Pokémon were basically kids, which was kind of cute. It explained why I saw a few sawsbuck, staravia, and donphan, seeing that they were evolved forms of all three Pokémon and had to be the parents.

I waited till the cheering died down and the Pokémon started to leave till I moved my paws away from Shard's ears. The sky was now all shades of colors, but about half of it was a dark blue, stars transparent in the sky. A worried donphan mother ran over to Phanpy while a pair of proud sawsbuck galloped over to Shika. A staravia flew over to the starly and congratulated it on the excellent announcing.

With a glance at Shard, I could easily tell that she looked depressed. Her eyes were locked on the deerling and her parents, watching them congratulate their daughter. Her ears lowered slightly and she gave a weak sigh. Instead of thrilled about the battle, I felt more worried for Shard. "Shard, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, I just don't want to talk about it," she grunted. Again, I decided not to push anything. On my four paws, I encouraged Shard to get up. She forced a smile.

"Hey, you want to head over to your den and hang out a bit?" Shard offered all emotion of misery gone. I didn't hesitate to answer, wanting to hang out a little bit longer.

"Sure," I replied and her tail started to wag slightly. Unfortunately, it wasn't that close to The Cliff. We'd have to run a while till we made it there. We quickly got started towards my den. I lead the way with Shard following closely behind me. After a few breaks, we arrived at my den with the sky a midnight blue. Stars were scattered aimlessly around the sky.

When I showed Shard where I lived that first day we hanged out, we never really 'hanged out' at my den at all. I just showed her where it was. Shard eagerly ran inside, ready to see what I had. Nervously I rubbed the back of my neck. I never really tidied anything up. Straw was scattered messily around my bed, my berry pile wasn't really a pile, and my Poke was scattered around. I went over near my straw bed and sat down, Shard inspecting everything.

"It's a little messy," she stated, trotting over towards me from the depths of my den. "Maybe we should clean it up a bit," she offered. Before I could answer, she started to nose some of the straw back into place for my bed.

"Uh, sure," I replied, seeing it was a little awkward she already started. I pawed into the back and worked on the berries. I rolled them around with my paws into a small pile. After a few minutes, I felt as if I got it into a sturdy and organized pile. On one side there were some berries I didn't really enjoy, like Aspear. On the other side were ones that I did enjoy, like Pecha. I turned around and squinted my eyes at Shard, seeing she had barely finished putting all the straw for my bed back in place. She skipped towards me, looking pretty happy.

"I finished with your bed," she grinned.

"I saw. You did a great job with it," I commented. I was smiling too, but I wasn't sure if Shard could see it in the shadows. After a bit of talking, we decided to forget about the Poke and just work on it later. We headed back to my straw bed, and I insisted on Shard lying down on it. We sat there and talked for a while, and I wasn't sure on how long.

"...and then, Star screamed so loud that everyone stopped talking and stared at her!" she finished, and we both laughed loudly.

"You have such fun stories about you and your friends," I pointed out.

"Yep, they can be a bit crazy sometime," she giggled. We both laughed again. I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Today just seemed perfect, except for the times when Shard seemed a bit sad. We both looked over at each other, accidently locking eye contact. Smiling, I stared into her deep purple eyes. I felt myself getting a bit lightheaded, the whole world around us seeming to disappear. It was as if we were the only ones in the entire world. I was transfixed, unable to look away. They shined brightly just like the bright gem around her neck.

I had a sudden feeling. I just wanted to lean down and kiss her on the cheek.

Some reason I didn't seem regretful about the urge to kiss her. I felt like I should've been worried about the feeling, but I wasn't. A few seconds later, I slowly leaned down, getting closer towards her. She didn't move away at all, and I could tell she knew what I was about to do. I opened my muzzle and got ready to kiss her on the cheek with no regrets. The urge was strong, and I wanted to see what it would feel like.

A loud rustling sound and a squawk came from outside. All my thoughts about the kiss disappeared and both of us looked outside of the den. We didn't talk for a few seconds, but then Shard spoke up. "W-What was that?!" Shard asked worriedly, yelling in a whisper. A scarlet color washed over each of both of our faces, the awkward moment earlier not leaving my thoughts, and probably not Shard's either.

"I don't know," I admitted. I moved away from Shard and stood up. "Let's go find out." Shard then stood up as well and used her paw to get some straw off her torso, and then we both quickly dashed outside of the den. We scanned the bushes, seeing a group of bushes move slightly. There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"Who are you?!" I shouted. I knew for a fact that whoever this was had to be a bird Pokémon from the squawking noise, and also that it must have been spying on us.

As soon as I yelled, a blurry figure rocketed out of the bush and above the pine tree tops. It had dark feathers of some kind, but that was all I could tell. I stared at the bush and then back at the treetops, moving my stare between the two places. Who would spy on us?

"That was weird," Shard mumbled. "Maybe... maybe I should head home." She looked towards the sky and at the countless stars.

"Yeah, you probably should," I agreed. "When do you want to meet up again? It's always fun when we hang out together." She looked up at the sky as she thought.

"Maybe in like, two days possibly," she proposed.

"Sure, in two days," I approved. We both looked at each other and smiled.

"Bye Thunder," she said in farewell and started to run off through the pine trees. I took a last glance of her, watching the beautiful blue glaceon run off towards Frosty Hills.

When she was gone, I just stood there and tried to process things. I almost kissed her. I would've kissed her if it wasn't for that mysterious bird. I tried to shrug off the thought after I gave out a long yawn. I wearily walked back to my newly organized straw bed and lied down on it. Closing my eyes, I tried to fall asleep. Minutes pass, and then I realize that I couldn't get that thought off my mind. Heck, I just almost kissed Shard! The fact that she wouldn't leave my thoughts only made me blush harder. What was she thinking? Was she terrified, relieved, overjoyed? Out of all my troubling thoughts about Shard, I just couldn't get one thing off my mind.

Was kissing her going to be a good thing or a bad thing?

Eventually, I dozed off, exhausted.


	13. The Fennekin Clan

**Thunder: Welcome back to more of the most successful story of Shadow's ever!**

** Shard: …yep.**

** Me: GUESS WHAT?! I found out a way to make some things have more emotion… so prepare for more awesomeness! :3**

** Shard: Thanks for reading all the way to this point! If you guys made it this far, it means you love our story, and from a recent poll, mostly readers want this story updated more often!**

** Me: So that's exactly what I'm going to do!**

** Thunder: Prepare for more ways to describe shock, sadness, anger, and-**

** Me: Love :P**

**Shard: Well enough of this… onto the story! You guys are awesome!**

** Thunder: Hey Shard, did you notice most of the chapters start when someone wakes up O.o**

** Shard: Oh my Arceus, that is so true! Shadow, you better work on that! It'll make the beginning of our chapters SO predictable!**

** Me: Okay, sure. Oh yeah guys, Nascha's back for another chapter! If you don't remember what Pokémon she is, don't worry, it'll tell you in the chapter!**

** Shard: Yep!**

** Me: Also sorry about so many characters. I know it's hard to remember all these names, and some of these guys are only mentioned once (Like Mist the Buizel for example), so you don't need to worry about her.**

** Shard: While when Shadow comes to a Pokémon side character, like let's say Lily, Fawn, Star, and Hunter, she'll remind you.**

** Me: You must have a great memory if you remember all those Pokémon and their species :O**

** Thunder: What are you guys still reading this for? ONTO THE STORY!**

**Shard's POV**

_A beautiful purple-eyed glaceon stood at the edge of a beach. Little did I know till a few seconds later that the glaceon was actually myself. The place I stood was familiar, but somehow it was foreign at the same time. I looked around the area, wondering where I was. Suddenly I realized something. It was that dream again. It was the dream when I started in that strange forest, and then I saw one when Thunder jumped a gorge, and now this was another one of those follow-up dreams. This time I was at a beach, yet I couldn't place it where we were. Out in the distance I saw really tall grass, and only when I concentrated was when I noticed a figure trudging along within the field._

_ This familiar Pokémon pawed out of the grass. The first thing I saw was a bit of messy yellow fur on someone's paw. Then I was able to see a pair of yellow diamond-shaped ears. The next feature were a pair of sparkling yet enchanting river-blue eyes, and then I realized who it was before all of him was revealed. I could feel a dark pink reach my face as the rest of the jolteon stepped out. Thunder was back in another one of these dreams. Maybe he'd lead me back to Sugarcane._

_ I opened my muzzle and called out his name, my eyes never leaving his wild fur. As before, he didn't respond. It was as if I was some sort of ghost. Thunder padded up to the ocean's edge, scanning the deep blue waves that spread for several miles. When I did a bit of searching myself, I noticed a path of sand leading off north of the area, almost like a never-ending route of sand. I stared at Thunder to see what he was going to do next._

_ Thunder walked slowly into the ocean water. He peered across the waves as if to see what was on the other side of the ocean. Suddenly, he dunked his head underwater, and I saw that his eyes were still open. I knew that was going to hurt. About only a second later he jumped back up and was whimpering like crazy. He ran onto the sand, took off his scarf, and rubbed his paws against his eyes. I winced at what I saw. That must have hurt, a lot._

Suddenly the images disappeared and my eyes shot open. I stared up at the ceiling of a den, my den. I woke up right there even though I didn't want to. When I was about to close my eyes and try to get back in that strange dream, a thought slipped into my mind. I remembered what had happened last night, with Thunder.

I sat straight up in my straw bed, so fast in fact that some straw flew around the place. The sudden thought brought a deep red color to my face. I felt my heart stop before thumping uncontrollably. Thunder had leaned down close to my cheek, and I could practically feel his breath tickling my face. I couldn't tell if he was going to kiss me or not, but if that strange bird Pokémon didn't come over and ruin everything I bet he would've kissed me.

It was hard to keep myself look calm even when I was near Thunder. His smile made my heart race, his sparkling blue eyes made my legs weak, and his continuing kindness brought a stuttering sensation to my speech. Thinking about his effect on me made my blush brighten, and he wasn't even around at the moment. Even though I was able to keep myself feeling normal around him, after a while the fluttering light-headed feeling came back. Now that he probably nearly kissed me, it was just going to get worse.

Shaking my head, more thoughts came to my mind. When I had left his den yesterday, I wasn't happy or overjoyed. If I thought he liked me, of course I would be in a dreamy state, but I was crestfallen. There was no way Thunder would like me. He probably was going to whisper something in my ear or some other thing, that's all. Thunder had a girlfriend; there was no way he could've found me cute in the least. It was still hard for me to get over the fact that my biggest crush and my mortal enemy were… dating. The thought brought a shiver to my spine and a small whimper from me every time. I just had to learn how to get over Thunder soon.

Standing up, I shook some straw from my fur and started to groom myself. After I was groomed with my shining light blue pelt, I headed into the back of the den and grabbed a couple Leppa berries. After munching down the red berries, I felt fully fed and was ready to face off the day. I then padded back to my messy straw bed and saw a purple gem on a necklace. I bent down and slipped the gorgeous necklace around my neck. Then I fixed up my straw bed, getting all the stray pieces back into place, and then fixed up the blanket. After I finished and it all looked neat, I felt ready to face off the day, without any drama.

After thinking, I decided what I was going to do. When I met Fawn, she wanted me to come with her to her fennekin clan or something. I might've as well found the place and see the little fennekin kit again. Who knew, maybe the sooner I went there, the sooner I could come up a plan to expose Ruby for who she was. However she got so evil and greedy I had no idea, but I needed to show everyone what she was really like. My only problem with going to the fennekin clan was that I had no idea where it was. I would probably have to ask complete strangers where to go. I haven't even heard of the clan, yet I've lived in Sugarcane all my life. I had no idea how anyone else would know about the place, but maybe it was some new clan?

Soon I padded out of my den, observing the wilderness for any Pokémon. The sun was already a bit above the mountain so I must've slept in a bit. Pokémon noises were buzzing around the forest. I could hear rustling leaves, paw steps, Pokémon chatter, calming wind, and many other forest sounds. Glancing to my left and right, there weren't really any nearby Pokémon. Looking up though, I saw a brown bird-like Pokémon flying slowly through the air. My eyes were wide as I realized it was a noctowl, and it was Nascha. It felt as if it's been forever since I've seen her. Last time I remembered talking with her was back at my surprise birthday party a few weeks ago.

"Nascha, is that you?" I called out, getting the attention from the noctowl. Her bird eyes were wide as a smile tugged at her beak. Maybe Nascha would know about the fennekin clan, and I wouldn't have to go around and ask strangers.

"Shard, it's been _forever _darling," Nascha exclaimed, emphasizing the 'forever' part. She folded her wings and slowly glided to the ground in front of me. She carefully flexed her talons as she landed on the slush, and then showed me a bright smile. "We really need to catch up more my glaceon friend. I have no idea what's happening at the moment in your life. For me it's been great. My little nestlings are really getting the hang of flying, and soon I'll have to start training them to battle," she recapped. "How about you, anything special happen? Have you met any cute guys yet?"

My eyes widened as the blush returned. Why did Nascha have to ask me that same question every time we bumped into each other?! The time when I actually get a crush I get off guard by the noctowl's question.

"No!" I shouted, a little too soon. I regretted myself for making it so obvious that I was lying. My reply brought a smirk to Nascha's face.

"Oh really now?" she asked with a mocking voice. "What's with the deep blush?"

Her comments made me bring my paws to my face, trying to cover up my cheeks. Then I cursed myself at how weak I must've looked. I probably was looking like a huge lovesick mess. I sometimes blushed when Nascha asked that question, and it was just because I felt embarrassed. This time I was making a huge deal with it, and Nascha must've known the truth.

The bird Pokémon leaned closer towards me with a snide smile. "Who is it," she whispered, my stomach churning and my face growing redder if it was even possible.

I accidently spoke too fast again. "No one!"

Nascha giggled slightly, my blush not fading. "I think we both know the truth here Shard," she grinned. "Who is it, what's his name, and when did you meet him?"

With a depressing sigh, I decided to spill it. I refused to look her in the eyes. "His name is Thunder, he's a jolteon, and I met him on my way home from the surprise party at Star's," I explained. I thought my blush must have been noticeable to anyone within a five mile radius.

"A jolteon, what luck, another evolution of an eevee, just like you, and it was on your birthday! You must be destined to be together! I bet he even likes you too!" she chirped. Obviously she had no idea that he was dating one of the most popular Pokémon in the forest via Ruby.

I turned away, refusing to even look at Nascha now. "Sure, he totally likes me, especially since he has a _girlfriend_," I whimpered sarcastically. I knew that any smile that Nascha had was gone now.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry," Nascha apologized. I could tell she was being sincere. "I didn't know, please forgive me."

I sighed again. "It's okay Nascha. I probably should go now." Still not looking at the noctowl, I stood up with my prior goal in mind.

"Sorry Shard. Hopefully next time we meet it won't be so awkward." I glanced at her slightly, the redness leaving my face a little. She looked terrible for making me sad. I sat down and waited for her to fly off before I relaxed; my cheeks still a light shade of red. That was just so embarrassing for me. I wouldn't have been able to hide my blush if I hid in a bush. Pokémon would mistake my cheeks for Cheri berries. I was lucky that it had died down before any other Pokémon could see me.

My main objective came back to me. I cursed myself for forgetting to ask Nascha on where the fennekin clan could be. If anyone knew about where anything was, Nascha would know. That noctowl could talk about Sugarcane as if a map was permanently etched in her head. If anything new was here in Sugarcane, Nascha would've already known. It was too late to stop Nascha since she flew off already, and she must've been exhausted since she was nocturnal. It looked like I was back to talking to strangers. Everything I hated; talking to new Pokémon and possibly troubling others. My shyness would probably keep me from talking, and I'd never find the fennekin clan.

I walked a little bit away from my den. I was starting to just blindly walk around the place. I noticed a butterfree, but didn't speak up. A deerling galloped by, but I didn't attempt to talk. The reason those two were in Frosty Hills I had no idea, but it was none of my business. When I saw an adult caterpie squirming by, I finally decided to speak up. "Um, hi," I blurted out sheepishly. I gave an awkward smile when the caterpie turned to face me.

"Hello," the Pokémon greeted with a shy smile.

"H-Have you've heard of some place called a fennekin clan?" I asked, unable to keep myself from stuttering.

"No, never heard of it," he replied, but before I could say anything else, the green caterpillar Pokémon squirmed away. Another thing that I hated just happened. I was terrible at handling rejection of any kind. A frown was on my face, but I wouldn't let it bother me. The thing that made me want to scream was that I had to continue doing that till some Pokémon knew about it.

A beartic was walking by, a grumpy one by the looks of it. However I forced myself to speak up. "E-Excuse me, have you've heard a place called the fennekin clan?" I repeated.

The Pokémon gave a glare at me, making my blood run cold with the icy stare. "Why would you want to know?" he sneered with a deep voice. "You're an ice type, yet you want to go somewhere surrounded by fire types? Don't make me laugh." The giant white Pokémon gripped one of his paws into a fist and I heard the crackling of knuckles. It was almost as if he was threatening me. He scoffed then walked away, almost as if I was a dirty rogue. I felt a few tears starting to come to my eyes but I blinked them away. There was no way I was going to let some grumpy Pokémon get the best of me. I continued to trudge around through the slush, waiting for a nicer looking Pokémon to show up.

After speaking up to a few Pokémon, no one knew what I was talking about. A few times a Pokémon was so rude that a small tear slid down my face, but quickly I shook the rest of the feeling off. Sometimes before continuing I buried my muzzle into the snow to help calm my nerves before I advanced through the forest. Soon I pawed out of Frosty Hills, ready to ask some other kinds of Pokémon.

The first Pokémon I saw was a strong looking manectric. His yellow mane seemed to be buzzing with electricity and it looked as if the guy was working out. He seemed dangerous and rude, but I had to ask. It was possible he knew. "Excuse me," I spoke up, the Pokémon looking in my direction. I noticed he had a red iris which made me feel a little crept out. "Do you know where the fennekin clan is?"

Surprisingly he gave a smile. "Well aren't you a cutie," he suddenly barked, and I fought hard to keep a light pink from reaching my face. He took a few steps towards me, the intensity of his electricity reaching me from even a foot away. It kind of reminded me of Thunder and his own element. "I'm Faolan, and you must be the girl of my dreams." He was trying to make eye contact, but I quickly looked at something else like a tree in the distance when he tried.

I wasn't sure what to say. This manectric was hitting on me, and that never happened to me before, and especially never so abruptly. I thought that I should've just introduce myself, and then be on my way. "I'm Shard," I replied, trying not to stammer.

"Shard, well what a lovely name," he grinned, taking a few more steps closer to me. It took me a lot of willpower to keep myself from stepping back. "Say, where have you've been my entire life sweetheart?"

He was avoiding my question. Hopefully I wasn't doing all of that for nothing. "Do you know where the fennekin clan is?" I repeated, trying to be stern but failed anyway.

Faolan almost looked taken back by my words. "Hey, what's the rush? Aren't you an ice type, why would you want to be around a bunch of fire types?"

Seriously, I was starting to get ticked off by this guy.

"Do you know… where the fennekin clan is?" I repeated again through clenched teeth. Normally I didn't get angry, but this one guy seemed to bring out the frustration in me.

Faolan sighed, but at least he didn't seem angry. "No, I haven't, there. Now can we talk?" he asked, hope written in his eyes. I had to say, it did feel nice to be appreciated from a guy for once. Any other guy I've met, even Thunder, didn't seem this eager to get to know me. I would hang out with him, but then I would've asked all those Pokémon earlier today where the clan was for nothing.

"S-Sorry," I apologized sincerely. "I am really in a rush. Maybe some other time we could?"

Faolan showed a faint smile. "Anytime," he responded, than he bolted away. Now that was just a strange encounter. It was nice to have some guy be into me, but he was everything that I didn't like. Creepy, fake, and jerk-like. He may have seen nice at the moment, but I knew that under that mask what his real personality was. When I was very alert, I could tell who was a jerk or not. Shrugging the guy off my mind, I continued to go through the forest. Hopefully luck would come soon.

Next a saw a pair of Pokémon, one resembling a black fox while another one like a wolf pup. It was a zorua and a poochyena chatting up a storm. I then sighed with relief; it was Star and probably a friend of hers! Finally I didn't have to talk to only strangers. I padded over to the two quickly; Star the first one noticing me.

"Shard!" Star grinned and she stopped walking. The poochyena she was walking with first glanced at Star, then me, then cracked a smile. Star happily skipped over to me, the poochyena following with the same amount of enthusiasm. "Hi Shard, how was it yesterday with Thunder?" Star suddenly blurted out. It took so much energy to keep myself from blushing. I bet Skylar or Petal must have told both Star and Lily about what happened two days ago. The events of that day I did not want to bring up.

"It went fine Star," I giggled, forgetting about Ruby and Thunder. I just kept my mind focused on the parts when we had fun.

"That's great!" the optimistic zorua exclaimed, jumping up from excitement. The poochyena still had that smile on his face. Then suddenly his face lit up, and his smile got bigger.

"Hey, hey! Wait, you're Shard right? And the Thunder you're talking about it a jolteon, correct?" he asked, excitement coating his voice.

"Well what do you think Star just called me?" I asked with a grin. "And yes, he's a jolteon." My answers made the poochyena shuffle his paws, his mouth wide open with a bright smile.

"Cool! I know Thunder; he's one of my newest friends!" the wolf-like Pokémon yelled with the volume of his voice surprisingly loud. Then the poochyena ran in a few circles, chasing his fluffy gray tail before he fell to the ground, dizzy. He laughed and stood back up. Star watched him with a dreamy smile, and I watched with confusion written all over me. When the poochyena finally regained his balance, he looked up at me with his tongue lolling out. "I'm Fang, and it's nice to meet you Shard!"

Even though a normal Pokémon would be a little freaked out from all the happiness and energy this Pokémon had, I was used to Star. "Well nice to meet you too Fang, and nice to see you again Star," I chuckled. "Where are you two going today?"

"To the fennekin clan!" both of them said in unison. My ears perked up. _This is perfect, _I thought. My only worries now were that they could also not know where it was, and judging on what I knew about Star, she most likely didn't.

"Really, do you two know where to go for the fennekin clan?" I asked. Neither of them lost any ounce of happiness.

"Yeah, we're on our way right now!" Star yelled, and then Fang chased his tail in the background again. I felt so lucky at that moment. I didn't have to ask strangers where to go any longer.

"Cool, do you mind if I come with you? I was actually on my way myself. We can all go over there together," I offered, smiling wide. Star would help me no matter what.

Star and Fang looked at each other, nodded at the same time, and then looked back at me. What they just did made me a bit reluctant if they were going to say yes. "Why do you want to go somewhere so hot if you're an ice type?" Fang asked, his head cocked to the side.

I turned away from them for a moment. "If I haven't heard that enough today," I muttered to myself. Then I looked back at the duo, ready to talk. "I'm meeting one of the fennekin cubs there," I explained. "And I don't really know how to get there. That's why I want to go with you two." I waited for their reply, and felt a smile come to my face once the two quadruples smiled.

"Sure you can, we LOVE cubs!" Star barked, making me wince at her saying 'love'.

Fang spoke up as well. "Star and I are going over to meet those pups as well! Or are they kits…" Suddenly Fang stopped talking and was in deep thought. I wanted to groan in frustration, but instead forced a smile and a small laugh.

"Can you two lead the way?" I asked. Star answered with a nod, Fang too busy to notice what I said. Star tapped her paw on Fang's, instantly snapping his attention.

"Come on Fang, we're heading to the fennekin clan with Shard," Star explained, not taking her paw off the poochyena. Oddly enough, Star's tone of voice had changed to a soft voice. My muzzle was open slightly from shock when I saw a light shade of pink come to Fang's face.

I watched them make eye contact, the color not leaving Fang's face. Star's paw didn't leave the poochyena's, and I stifled some laughter. I just couldn't help it, and quickly covered my muzzle and hoped they didn't notice my laughing. Unfortunately I interrupted their moment. The both started to stare at me with bright red faces.

That made me fall to the ground in a laughing fit. It was just hysterical in my opinion! Out of all the Pokémon in the universe, Star was a Pokémon that had a crush. It could've been any other zorua but her, but it was this certain zorua! How could it be possible, she was such a jokester and pranker, and when it came to love she thought it was, and I quote, 'Grosser then a Jynx'!

"S-Shut it!" Star growled with the two Pokémon glaring at me. From everything I knew about Star, I knew that she rarely growled, but it was still a challenge to stop myself from laughing. I shakily got back on my paw and wiped a tear from my eye. As I got out the last of my chuckles; my main objective came back to mind. I forced myself to stop and apologize to the two. "Yeah…" the zorua muttered after I apologized, but they shook it off. Immediately they went back to their usual happy energetic ways luckily. Star stood up and walked away from Fang to my side.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Fang commented as he stood up, than padded over to Star. "Let's go!" The pair walked ahead of me, side by side, and I tailed behind them. They started to chat to each other as if that special moment didn't even happen. They would make a cute couple. Lucky for them, they were both single and it looked as if they both liked each other. They had it easy, compared to my love life. I stayed quiet most of the time while they started a meaningless conversation.

"So like I was saying earlier, I found this berry bush full of Pecha berries! I was so excited, especially since Pokémon from Ivysaur's berries usually pluck all the bushes dry for business so I had so much of my favorite berry for free! So then when I was about to take a few of those sweet pink berries, bam! A web shot out of the bush from this caterpie for a String Shot! However my hearing picked up the sound of the caterpie, and seconds before it happened I was aware of what was going to happen so I was able to dodge the attack! Next…" Star continued to go on and on about the story of the Pecha berries, forcing me to zone her out and take in the serene forest. Observing the surrounding vegetation, I realized how much nature there was surrounding us. It was very peaceful and occasionally there were very beautiful spots. Places like Silver Falls weren't the only nice looking areas of Sugarcane.

While taking in the surroundings, Star suddenly yelled my name, somehow able to sneak up to me and yell in my ear. "Shard!" the zorua screamed, causing me to jump from surprise. A faint buzzing sound was in my ear, but I shook it off. The sudden event caused me to give her a grudging glare.

"What the heck Star?!" I screamed in frustration, even though the scream was barely a volume above my usual voice. Instead of getting the reaction I wanted, both Star and Fang laughed slightly.

"We're here already Shard," Fang revealed and then pointed one of his paws toward a small clearing. I was curious how early we got there. To me it felt like it had been only a couple minutes, but maybe I zoned out a little too much.

The place was what I expected a clan to look like, except the place was smaller than the few other clans I've seen around the forest. I saw in total four dens, and a lot fewer fennekins there then I expected. The dens varied in sizes, two of them small, and two of them medium, while they were places so that the entrances faced the clearing. One of the small dens were so small, it seemed as if only one or two fully grown fennekins could sleep in it. Inside there was a thick layer of moss covering each spot, and it all looked very luxurious and comfy. I assumed that was where the leader of the clan was at.

After looking at the currently present members of the clan in the clearing, it truly was the fennekin clan. There weren't any fennekin evolutions, but only fennekins, except they all varied in sizes which helped tell you who was old and who wasn't. Most of the clan members seemed to be way bigger then Fawn was, giving me the idea how long she had till she was an adult.

Fang, Star, and I walked into the clan, now on the edge of the clearing. Fang and Star said they were going to search around for all the fennekin pups and ran off. They were given a few odd looks from a few of the fennekins, but none of them attempted to really do anything. I sat down and took in most of the view, trying to figure out what I could with what I saw. Since I felt as if I figured out the leader's den, I tried to find out about the other three. Two of them seemed to be the same size, about medium, and a few adult fennekin were lounging around in each one. From what I saw, I suspected that those two dens were for the fully grown Pokémon. The last den wasn't as big as the medium dens, yet it wasn't as small as the leader's den. It was basically some sort of size in between those two. Judging from the fennekin pups inside, I decided that it was some den for the pups or something to sleep at. I felt a bit sweaty at the heat floating around the place.

At that moment an adult fennekin came up to me with sturdy steps. One of my ears twitched nervously, but I forced it to stop. On the tip of his tail there was some gray fur, barely any red anymore. His red eyes seemed dull, yet a little lighter then it seemed like it should've been. The fennekin reminded me of some sort of elder. "Greetings," the wise Pokémon spoke, his voice with a strong feel to it. He looked like he was old, but he also seemed to have lots of strength and wisdom, and calm at the same time. Luckily his voice didn't show any signs of threat and was pretty kind. "What brings you to the fennekin clan?"

Even though he was a stranger, his voice seemed to calm any nervousness I had felt. "A while ago I met one of your pups playing near Orchard Hillside, and she wanted me to come over so I could see the fennekin clan," I answered, being sincere. There were some things I didn't want to bring up, like Ruby. His light red eyes darted around a bit, staring at my face as if trying to decipher a code. I didn't know what he was doing for a second, but realized that he was trying to see if I was lying or something like that. After a short moment, a faint smile showed up on his face but after I blinked, it was gone.

"What's your name?" he asked with his voice unchanging.

"Shard," I replied. There was no reason to lie about my name. His dull yet light eyes glanced at my expression, seeing if I was lying again. After a moment he stopped and I was able to see the small smile of his. I thought of that as if he knew I was saying the truth.

"Okay Shard, well my name is Joseph. I am the chief of the fennekin clan, but close friends prefer to call me Joel," he introduced, giving out his title as the clan's leader, or chief. I actually had a small thought of him being a leader, giving how much he looked like he was bred to be one. It looked like I was stuck calling him either Chief or Joseph for a while though. Joseph flicked his tail, lashing it out as it bristled slightly, then the gray tip pointed at a den. It was one of the small ones, but not what I figured was the leader's den. It was what I thought was like the sleeping grounds for the cubs or pups, or whatever the term was.

"Is that the pup den?" I asked. I noticed how still his tail was, as if his tail was made of stone. Joseph replied with a nod.

"That is where the fennekin pup you are looking for should be. No pups were allowed to leave the clan at all today," he explained, his tone now sounding very strict. It made me feel nervous slightly yet again, but I quickly shrugged the feeling off. I smiled in appreciation, and then ran off towards the den, already seeing the pups in distance.

As I arrived, Fang and Star were playing with two of the fennekin cubs inside the den. Three more fennekin pups were sitting directly outside of the place though. Two of them were talking in a small group while one was scratching at the exterior rock walls with tiny claws. They all looked so similar, so it was hard for me to tell which one was Fawn. I had a feeling it was the one scratching at the den, and that pup looked like a girl, so I padded over her first

A few yards away from her, I could tell the fennekin knew I was coming when her ears twitched. She turned around slowly and then her red eyes went wide, a smile stretching across the pups face as she jumped up in excitement. After she got back on the ground, she waved frantically at me with her tail, almost like it was wagging instead. "Shard, Shard, over here!" she called, excitement written in her voice. Hmm, can't make it more obvious than that.

With my own tail I waved with one flicker but nothing more. I returned the smile as I stood in front of the fennekin. From that distance I felt the heat radiating off the pups body, threatening me to loll out my tongue and start panting. "Hi Fawn, I came over here just like you wanted me too. So what are you doing right now?" I asked. From what I've seen her do back at my own place, clearly she was doing something better then scratching mindlessly into some rock.

"I'm glad you came over Shard! And here, let me show you what I'm doing," Fawn yipped, turning her attention back to the den wall. Fawn extended her yellow fluffy paw at the scratches in the rock, her tiny claws still out. Peering closer, I noticed that they weren't scratches, but that they were lines being carved into the material. It was made into a drawing, but so far I couldn't really tell what it was. It seemed as if the fennekin had barely started. "I'm just started to draw and ember! Do you see the flames I just began on?" Fawn moved her claw slightly and pointed at some wavy lines, and soon I could see what she was talking about. For the moment it did look the edge of a small flame.

I was curious if Fawn had any other sorts of drawings. "Do you have any other pictures?"

Fawn looked up at me, a bright smile lit across her face still. "Yeah, but this is my first attempt to do it into the rock!" she exclaimed. "Chief gave me permission to do it today after seeing a few of my embers I did in the ground, want me to show you?"

Even though I wanted to start chatting a bit about other stuff, I was happy to see how eager Fawn was. Plus I was sure that Joseph wouldn't just say yes to Fawn to carving in the den if it was a bad drawing. "Sure, if there is one close to here," I agreed. Fawn gave a giggle of excitement, and then quickly ran off towards the smallest den of the place, also known as the Chief's den. I followed after her, but soon she had skidded to a stop. Alarmed, I knew I was too close to stop so I jumped to side of her, heading past her a few feet before halting. I couldn't help myself with the heat and my tongue lolled out.

Raising an eyebrow, I stared at whatever had stopped Fawn in her tracks. There were two other fennekin cubs with them staring up at me. Their eyes were filled with shock, admiration, and awe, even though I was panting. Fawn waved her paw in front of their eyes, forcing them to snap after their strange trance and to rub their eyes. After rubbing their eyes a second time and then blinking their eyes a bunch more, they were staring back up at me, as if wondering if I was some sort of mirage.

They looked exactly identical, which wasn't surprising. I could tell however that one was a boy and the other was a girl. I found it odd that I could tell which gender a Pokémon was with only a small glance, but I felt it had to do with how good a Pokémon grooms they pelt. The girl spoke up first. "I-Is that a, glaceon?!" she spoke, amazement written all over her.

The boy pup however wasn't as amazed as the girl. He seemed to have a little more common sense then her. "Wait, so the glaceon that Fawn told us about, was true?" he thought out loud to himself. Fawn nodded a bunch of times, her smile getting bigger if it was even possible.

"Yeah, I _told _you I wasn't lying!" Fawn exclaimed, and then she stood up proudly. Her chest fur was puffed out, her fluffy tail was sticking up straight, her ears standing up tall, and she forced her smile to be a little smaller making her look more respectable and take her more seriously. It's hard to take someone seriously with a huge smile on their face. The way she had posed made you think that if she was the size of a full grown fennekin, she'd look like some proud majestic hero that made it back from some sort of war. The boy pup looked back at me, the awe glazing his eyes still. The girl pup didn't seem to budge at all except her chest, showing she was breathing.

The boy pup wasn't as memorized as the girl one was. He shook his head, quickly snapping out his transfixed state again. "Sorry for being rude friendly glaceon. I'm Copper," he introduced. He waved his tail till it was pointing at the girl pup. The girl pup looked too much in awe to talk, so Copper spoke for her. "This is my sister, Scarlet. We're practically best friends."

Copper was starting to try and snap Scarlet out of her state of shock. It was almost as if she was just traumatized because of me. It was weird that they would do that because I didn't see what was so amazing about me. While they were doing that, Fawn crept over to me and got as close to my ear as possible. When I noticed her trying to whisper into my ear, I bent down till her muzzle was right besides my temples. I bent my ear down, inches away from the pup's mouth. "Copper is basically a not-so-smart friendly and naïve guy, one of the greatest guys in the world if you ask me. Scarlet is the Pokémon who is nearly amazed by every single thing, and is generally very sensitive and shy till you get to know her," Fawn quietly explained, sharing their personalities.

After that short moment, it looked as if Copper and Scarlet had snapped out of their amazement, yet Scarlet still looked slightly shocked. She then shook it off and gave a sheepish smile. "S-So you're that glaceon, the one that was at Orchard Hillside the other day?" the shy fennekin asked, her tail twitching nervously. She kind of reminded me of myself a bit. However, why did that event at Orchard Hillside always have to come up?

"Yeah, that's me all right. Whatever Fawn had told you about me, it's true," I grinned. "Why did you guys seem so amazed to see me?"

Copper spoke up for both of them. "Well we never saw an ice type before. We cubs aren't even allowed near the snowy place. And have you've seen yourself, an eevee evolution?! Those by far must be the rarest Pokémon you can find in the forest!" Truth was I heard that all the time, except from other eevee evolutions. When I met Star, Lily, and Skylar, they were amazed at my Pokémon species. Back then I was barely a kit and they were wordless at meeting a second eevee. The first eevee was Petal. I had to say that Petal was my best friend because of this, well, and the fact that her family took care of me when a certain tragedy happened. When I knew tears were about to form in my eyes, I blinked my sadness away.

I laughed slightly, but not too much as if to offend them. "Well fennekin are pretty rare themselves. One fennekin is cool, a whole clan however is almost realistic," I pointed out.

"Well we all migrated from a crag area near a volcano, Mt. Eruption. We had to leave when the lord there had been getting too strict, and all the fennekin gathered in a group and moved to a place far away. Eventually we came along here to Sugarcane, seeing that we had freedom and the Swords of Justice don't control Pokémon," Copper explained. I had never heard of Mt. Eruption so it must've been really far.

That meant that the fennekin clan really was a new clan to the forest. Copper also explained that if Sugarcane became too hard to live in, as in the fire power burning trees and becoming a threat to the forest, then they would probably move somewhere else. Copper however hoped they didn't, mainly because there were twigs everywhere for him to feast on, which fennekin just loved. Apparently fennekin eat twigs as snacks. If the fennekin stayed in the forest, then they wouldn't ever have to go berry hunting and could just survive on anything from just one tree. That was very impressive.

I then noticed Scarlet was staring at something. Following her gaze, I noticed she was staring at the purple heart gem on my neck. With a bright smile I explained the story of it and how it was from a surprise birthday party. All four of us then broke out into a talk about the forest and things, when eventually Scarlet brought up something which caused an uncomfortable silence. "Wait, so does that mean Ruby being a bad Pokémon is… true?" she stammered.

Soon I decided to break the ice. "Yes, it is. She's been like that a while before she evolved into a luxio. Fawn can explain things to you when I leave because I don't want to go into detail about it, but just remember to stay away from the luxray clan, okay?" All three of the pups nodded their heads simultaneously, a sincere look all over their faces.

We talked for a while about a bunch of random topics. A bit later we moved into the shade of a den so I wouldn't be as hot. Most of the time I noticed Copper talking to Fawn and usually that's what starts another new kind of conversation. Soon a voice sounded out. It was a woman's voice calling for Copper and Scarlet. "Oh, looks like our mother is calling us," Copper stated. "Coming mother!" Scarlet and Copper ran back towards one of the big dens where I saw a full grown fennekin waiting. After they disappeared into the cave, I swerved around to see Fawn. Her face had a dreamy smile, and she was in a dazed state. Her gaze was focused on the den where the siblings had run into, and it looked as if her legs were shaky and she was going to collapse under her weight.

I knew what this meant. "So, I'm guessing you have a crush on Copper," I whispered, a smirk on my face. Instantly Fawn's face turned a dark red.

"I-I don't have a crush on Copper," she whimpered, ears flat against her head. It looked as if she wanted to scream that but she barely held the urge back.

I sighed. She wasn't excepting it, just like Fang and Star earlier that day. It was strange when all these sudden couples and crushes started to pop up all over the place. "It's written all over your face you know."

Fawn groaned in frustration. "I want him to like me so much," she confessed, staring at her two front paws. "I feel as if he just sees me as a friend and nothing else. I don't think he wants to be in a relationship at such a young age, but it just hurts inside."

"We are so much alike, you and I. You and Copper, and me and Thunder, our situations are similar but different. Copper isn't really looking for romance yet, but at least you two will soon get together. By what I've seen today, I noticed that Copper likes you," I pointed out. Immediately her ears went from against her head to standing straight up. Her blush grew deeper.

"R-Really?" she asked. Hope was glazed on her red eyes.

"Yeah, I saw how he mostly talked to you, and how much fun you both had. When you guys get a bit older I bet you two will be a happy couple," I insisted.

Thoughts of the problems with me and Thunder came up. He wouldn't ever love me because of Ruby. That diva belittling luxray got one of the hundreds of things she had, and it just had to be so affecting. It was hard to believe that me and that spoiled Pokémon had used to be friends as kits.

Fawn must have noticed my depression. She came over and nuzzled against my paw for comfort. It kind of worked as I saw that yet another Pokémon was on my side. "Don't worry Shard; I know you're thinking about Thunder. Hopefully he'll see the truth of Ruby soon so your aching heart will be healed," the fennekin suggested, the thought bring a faint smile to my face. At least I knew that I had friends to help me through this. Maybe Fawn could help me get over Thunder. I just knew for a fact that he'd never get over Ruby. She was so devious and clever she would be able to keep him as her man for as long as she wanted. She'd keep him till she found another guy she liked and threw Thunder's heart away like a rotten berry. Why did this have to start right after I rejected being Lobo's girlfriend? Surely that wasn't the sole cause of Ruby going bad. If only I knew if it was enough, or whatever else she had to despise me. Whatever happened, I knew I had already lost. No matter how long it took I would cure myself from my broken heart. I'd still hang out with Thunder, but get rid of all my grief.

Soon I'd get over Thunder.

**Oh, juicy chapter! Like all the romance? Star and Fang, what a nice couple! I felt as if this story should have more then just one couple, and maybe just a bit more romance! Also if you review, please tell me if you think I should do this: I have planned another chapter of Thunder and Shard hanging out together. I made up some really cute scenes for them, but I feel as if it's not really needed. If you want it, please tell me because if most of you say yes, then the day together will happen in two chapters. I am really not sure, so this choice is really up to you! So again, PLEASE let me know what you think!  
**

**Shard: *Whispers* Say yeeees.  
****Me: Shard, don't influence their choices! THIS SHOULDN'T ALSO BE AT THE END!  
****Shard: Uh... I'm j-just a figment of your imagination! You're dreaming!**


End file.
